Hoang Xuan Phu is a professor at the Institute of Mathematics of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. His academic journey includes earning a Ph.D. in 1983 and a habilitation in 1987 at the University of Leipzig. A successful scientific cooperation with colleagues at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing of the Heidelberg University has been established since 1992, where he became Werner Romberg Distinguished Guest Professor of the Heidelberg Graduate School of Mathematical and Computational Methods for the Sciences in 2008.

His areas of interest include optimization, optimal control, numerical analysis and functional analysis, as well as practical applications such as optimal control of hydropower plants, robotics, inventory problems, etc.

He is a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (elected 2004), the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (elected 2010), TWAS - The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (elected 2013) and Acatech - National Academy of Science and Engineering of Germany (elected 2019). He has been a member of the IMU Circle since 2014.