Professor Washington Yotto Ochieng, is a member of NPL’s Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), providing independent strategic advice and support.
Professor Washington Yotto Ochieng, CBE, EBS, CEng, FREng, FCGI, is a member of NPL’s Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), providing independent strategic advice and support. His expertise includes evaluating the quality, international reputation and industrial relevance of NPL’s science and technology initiatives.
He is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London and Chair Professor in Positioning and Navigation Systems. He also directs the Centre for Active Resilience and Security.
Professor Ochieng serves on the Board of Trustees of the Science Museum Group and chairs the Advisory Board of the Science Museum in London. He is Trustee and President of the Royal Institute of Navigation and chairs the Africa Engineers Steering Committee of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, as well as a Fellow of several UK institutions, including those for civil engineers, highways and transportation, navigation, and civil engineering surveyors.
His award-winning research focuses on infrastructure resilience, user-centric mobility, space-based positioning and navigation systems for land, sea and air, air traffic management and intelligent transport systems.
He is a member of the Research Advisory Group for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Scientific Advisory Council for the Department for Transport (DfT). He previously served on the cross-HMG Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) team at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
In December 2022, Professor Ochieng was awarded the Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear (EBS), one of Kenya’s highest honours, by President Dr William Ruto. In 2023, he received a Doctor of Science (DSc) honoris causa from the Technical University of Kenya. In June 2024, His Majesty King Charles III awarded him the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to global positioning and navigation systems. In 2025, he was elected Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute for his contribution to civil and environmental engineering.