Derrick serves as Special Advisor to South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology. He is also Chief Strategy Officer for Ocean Sciences at Nelson Mandela University (NMU). Since the 1990s, he has been a key figure in South Africa’s post-apartheid higher education system, having served as Vice-Chancellor of NMU from 2008 to 2017. Previously, he served as Rector of the University of Fort Hare (1999 to 2007), one of South Africa’s most iconic and celebrated universities, where former President Nelson Mandela and many African leaders studied.

Derrick obtained his BA degree in South Africa, followed by Master’s and DPhil degrees at the University of Essex, United Kingdom, in the Sociology of Development, focusing on state economic intervention. In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate (human rights law) from Essex University. During the pre-democracy years, he was a leading anti-apartheid activist and went into exile for a decade, before returning to South Africa in 1995. Since then, he has devoted his energies to higher education, with special interests in the role of science and innovation in sustainable economic development. He also served as chair of the National Council on Innovation in South Africa and currently serves on various non-profit boards.