Dr Robin Drennan is the Director of Research Development at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. His role entails leading, encouraging and supporting research across the university. In 2010 he received a Golden Quill Award for research reporting, and in 2017 a SARIMA Award for his distinguished contribution to the research management profession.

Dr Drennan has a PhD in Chemistry from Rhodes University, awarded for the investigation of pyrotechnic reactions. He has practised as an applied researcher in a public company, AECI, and a science council, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He worked at a national funding agency (the National Research Foundation), where he managed many different programmes.