Adnan Badran is the Chancellor of the University of Petra and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Jordan. He is a biologist with over 166 papers presented, and 41 books, 54 research papers published and 4 patents. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul (1981); an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Michigan State University, (2007); an Honorary Doctorate in Business from Yarmouk University, Jordan (2014); the West Watkins distinguished Lectureship Award (2009) USA; the Hall of Fame Alumni Award from Oklahoma State University, USA; and the Honorary Professorship from L.N. Gumilev Eurasian National University Kazakhstan (2012). Also, he was awarded the Arab Thought Foundation Award for best Arab scientist in higher education research (2005); the TWAS Regional Prize for "Building Scientific Institutions" (2009); the World Education Asia award for Outstanding Contribution to Education (2011) and the Shoman award for Peer review of young Arab scientists.

Badran was Prime Minister (2005), Minister of Agriculture (1989) and Minister of Education (1989) in Jordan. He was Senator and Chair of the Senate Committee on Science, Education and Culture (2006-2010). He also served as Deputy Director-General of UNESCO (1994-1998) and Assistant Director General for Science, Paris (1990-1994). Founding President of Yarmouk University and Jordan University of Science and Technology (1976-1986), President of Philadelphia University (1998-2005) and President of University of Petra (2007-2014), and Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Jordan (1971-1976). Secretary General (1986-1987) and Vice-president (2014- ) of the Higher Council for Science and Technology, Jordan. President of the National Centre of Human Rights, Jordan (2008-2011) and President of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Human Rights, Sidney (2009-2011). Member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Thought Forum (2012- ). He is a Fellow and former Vice-president of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), Fellow of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS) and President of the Arab Academy of Sciences. Chairman of the Board of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development in Beirut (2008- ). President of the Higher Council of the National Centre for Curriculum development (2017-2019) and Chairman of Shoman Trust Fund for Research (2019- ). Member of the Board of Trustees of the King Abdullah Ibn Al Hussein Award for Innovation (2020-).
Badran received his B.Sc from Oklahoma State University (1959), and Master then PhD from Michigan State University (1963), USA.