Mohamed H.A. Hassan is president of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and co-chair of IAP, the global network of science academies, and serves on a number of committees in other organizations worldwide. Born in the Sudan in 1947, he holds a Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from the University of Oxford, UK (1974).

In 2011, Prof. Hassan retired as executive director of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) after 25 years of service. A former professor and dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Khartoum, he received the Order of Scientific Merit of Brazil. He is a fellow of TWAS, AAS, and the Islamic Academy of Sciences as well as an honorary member of the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, a corresponding member of the Belgian Royal Overseas Academy of Sciences, and a foreign fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

His research areas include theoretical plasma physics and the physics of wind erosion and sand transport.