Debasish Ghose obtained his BSc(Engg) degree from the Regional Engineering College, Rourkela, and Master's and PhD degrees from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has been on the faculty of the Indian Institute of Science since 1990 and served as the Chairperson of the Department of Aerospace Engineering from 2014 to 2017. He has been a visiting faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles.

His main area of research has been in the guidance and control of autonomous vehicles. In this area, he has published more than 400 papers, book chapters, and books (https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?hl=en&user=BUfKuTYAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate). He has received the alumni award for research excellence at the Indian Institute of Science. He has also served, and serves, on the editorial boards of several well-known journals including many IEEE Transactions. He is a fellow of INAE, INSA, and NASI, and an Associate Fellow of AIAA.