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Francis Petersen is the rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State in South Africa. He has formerly been deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, dean of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Cape Town, executive head of strategy at Anglo American Platinum, executive vice-president of research and development at Mintek, and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Cape Technikon (now the Cape Peninsula University of Technology). He graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with B Ing (Chem), M Ing (Metal) and PhD (Ing) degrees, and he also completed a short course on financial skills for executive management with IIR Training. He is a recipient of the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award for Research Excellence, and the Cape Technikon (now the Cape Peninsula University of Technology) Researcher of the Year Award. He is also a regular reviewer and member of a range of editorial boards for international journals.

He is a non-executive director on the boards of Fruits Unlimited, Bigen Africa and Stone Three Digital. He has been, among other things, chairman of the board of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a non-executive director on the board of Royal Bafokeng Platinum, a member of the South African minister of science and technology’s National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI), deputy chairman of Mintek and a member of the board of the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator.

Francis has extensive experience in management at various levels within the university and industry sectors. He believes in teamwork and has played a key role in various initiatives within higher education, industry and science councils. He is the founder of the first cohort of industry research organisations in the minerals and energy sectors (M&E G9), and has been actively involved in strategic planning with regard to research and development in the science and technology sector, joint venture formation and scenario development. Francis serves on various national and international technical, editorial and advisory committees, where he is actively involved, and he has also acted widely as a consultant to the South African engineering and built environment industries. He has published over 160 international journal papers and conference proceedings.