PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Duc Truong Pham

Also known as Duc Pham, Duc-Truong Pham

Duc Truong Pham is an engineering professor whose work on intelligent systems, robotics and manufacturing includes the Bees Algorithm, a search method that models how honeybees forage. After a PhD in robotic assembly at the University of Canterbury in 1979, he lectured in control engineering at Birmingham until 1988, then held the Chair in Computer-Controlled Manufacture at Cardiff University. At Cardiff, he founded the Manufacturing Engineering Centre in 1996, which won the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2001, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2000 and made an OBE in 2003. He published the original article on the Bees Algorithm, tested it with Marco Castellani in 2009 against three biologically inspired search methods, and returned to Birmingham in 2011. He is Chance Professor of Engineering at Birmingham, and in 2025 he co-authored the Springer book Intelligent Optimisation with the Bees Algorithm.

Born
1952
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1974–1979

    Degrees at Canterbury

    He earns a BEng with honours in mechanical engineering in 1974 and a PhD in robotic assembly in 1979. Both degrees come from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

  2. 1979–1988

    Lecturer in control engineering

    From 1979 to 1988, he is a lecturer in control engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, where his research focuses on robotics and automation.

  3. 1988–2011

    Cardiff chair and manufacturing centre

    In 1988, he joins Cardiff University as Professor of Computer-Controlled Manufacture, and in 1996 he founds its Manufacturing Engineering Centre. His research there covers intelligent systems and advanced manufacturing, including neural networks for non-linear systems identification and control, and the Centre wins the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2001. He holds the chair until 2011.

  4. 2000–2003

    Royal Academy fellow and OBE

    The Royal Academy of Engineering elects him a Fellow in 2000. He is made an OBE in the 2003 New Year's Honours for his services to engineering.

  5. 2009

    Benchmarking the Bees Algorithm

    His publications include the original article on the Bees Algorithm, a search method that models the foraging behaviour of honeybees. In 2009, he and Marco Castellani publish a paper in the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C, that tests the algorithm on benchmark functions against three biologically inspired search methods, and the Bees Algorithm performs optimally or near optimally in almost all the tests.

  6. 2011

    Return to Birmingham

    He returns to the University of Birmingham in 2011 as Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering and Chance Professor of Engineering. The Learned Society of Wales elects him a Fellow in 2011.

  7. 2016–2017

    A Lifetime Achievement Award

    He receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Automation Congress in 2016. In 2017, he receives a Distinguished International Academic Contribution Award from the IEEE SMC Society technical committee on enterprise information systems and IFIP TC8 WG8.9.

  8. As of October 2026

    Chance Professor of Engineering

    He is Chance Professor of Engineering at the University of Birmingham. In August 2025, Springer publishes Intelligent Optimisation with the Bees Algorithm, which he co-authors with Marco Castellani and Luca Baronti.

Career

  1. Since 1979University of BirminghamLecturer in control engineering, Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering
  2. 1988–2011Cardiff UniversityProfessor of Computer-Controlled Manufacture, Founder

Education

  1. 1979University of CanterburyPhD
  2. 1974University of CanterburyBEng with honours

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Birmingham. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Birmingham. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Birmingham. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Birmingham. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Professor Duc Truong Pham OBE, FREng, FLSW, FSME, BE, PhD, DEng, CEng, FIET, FIMechE birmingham.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Duc Truong Pham - The Learned Society of Wales learnedsociety.wales. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Manufacturing Engineering Centre - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Intelligent Engineering Optimisation with the Bees Algorithm | Ex Libris exlibris.ch. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. The Bees Algorithm: modelling foraging behaviour to solve continuous optimization problems - University of Birmingham research.birmingham.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Intelligent Optimisation with the Bees Algorithm: Concepts and Applications - University of Birmingham research.birmingham.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.