Hassan is currently president of Sudanese National Academy of Sciences. He was professor and dean of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Khartoum; chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for International Development, Germany; president of the InterAcademy Partnership; founding executive director and president of TWAS; president of the African Academy of Sciences; founding president of the Network of African Science Academies; chairman of the Council of the United Nations University; chairman, Honorary Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology, Nigeria. Among his honours: comendator, Grand Cross, and National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil; and officer, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He is a recipient of G77 Leadership Award and the Abdus Salam Medal for Science and Technology. He is a member of several merit-based academies of science, which include Pakistan Academy of Sciences; Academy of Sciences of South Africa; the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and the Royal Society.