Dr Mike Ryan holds bachelors, masters, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) in systems engineering, electrical and ITEE colleges, a Senior Member of IEEE (SMIEEE), a Fellow of the International Council on Systems Engineering (FINCOSE), a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders (FIML), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW (FRSN). He has over 40 years of experience in communications engineering, systems engineering, capability management, and management.

From 1998, he was with the University of New South Wales, where he was most recently the Director of the Capability Systems Centre. His research and teaching interests are in communications and information systems, requirements engineering, systems engineering, and project management—he also regularly consults in those fields.

He is the Co-Chair of the Requirements Working Group (RWG) of INCOSE. He is the author or co-author of thirteen books, four book chapters, and over 400 refereed journal and conference papers.