The family, including Nugent’s mother and his two brothers, moved to Australia when he was 11, when his father took up a role at Red Tulip (since taken over by Cadbury) in Melbourne.

Nugent and Wilkins' key contribution was to open up an approach to manufacturing these devices using microchannel plate technology.

He was the founding researcher of microscopy company IATIA,[8] created to commercialise the work of himself and his two former PhD students, David Paganin and Anton Barty, in quantitative phase imaging (QPI).

With a focus on supporting young Australians in science his wife Dr Eroia Barone-Nugent was pivotal in showing how science centers of excellence could work with schools and curriculum to deliver on their outreach responsibilities Growing Tall Poppies Program (GTP)[10] in 2008.

The purpose of the student-scientist partnership program is to highlight the role of physics in solving real-world issues, and to help students become “tall poppies” in science.

Dr Eroia Barone-Nugent, was the recipient of the 2009 Victorian State Impact Grant, Schools First Award at Santa Maria College, Northcote.

[13] Nugent has been a member of the ARC Expert Advisory Committee for Physics, Chemistry and Geosciences, and the international scientific advisory board of Elettra Sincotrone Trieste, the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre in Taiwan, and the European X-ray Free Electron Laser based in Hamburg.

Nugent was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)[15] of the Australian National University in 2019 and remained in the role until January 2024.

ANU provost, Professor Mike Calford, said, "We sought to fill this critical role with a person who could continue to build the profile of ANU as a world-leading institution for research and development and one who understands the complex systems that support successful research.