Prof. Dr. Phan Thi Tuoi is one of Vietnam’s most distinguished women intellectuals and a pioneering figure in information technology. In 2026, she was recognized by the Vietnam Association of Women Intellectuals as an Outstanding Vietnamese Woman Intellectual for the period 2011-2026, honouring her exceptional contributions to education, scientific research, and the development of information technology professionals.
As Vietnam’s first female professor of Information Technology, she broke barriers in a field traditionally dominated by men and inspired generations of female students to pursue careers in engineering and technology. After entering university in 1969, she studied Electronic Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Czechoslovakia before returning to Vietnam in 1976 to join Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, where she spent most of her academic career.
Through decades of teaching and research, she rose to become Rector of the university from 1998 to 2007, at a time when she was the only female leader of a major technical university in Vietnam. Under her leadership, the university received significant national recognition, including the title Hero of Labor in the Renewal Period.
Alongside her administrative achievements, Prof. Tuoi remained committed to scholarship, leading research projects, publishing widely, and editing influential textbooks on programming languages, compilers, and natural language processing. She also supervised numerous doctoral and postgraduate students. Her many honours include the Second-Class and Third-Class Labor Orders, the Kovalevskaia Award, and the title People’s Teacher. Even after retirement, she has continued mentoring future generations, demonstrating a lifelong commitment to education and national development.