Professor Cheryl Hendricks is the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR). The Institute strives to build fair, democratic, and inclusive societies by conducting research, capacity building, and implementation support. Cheryl Hendricks has more than 15 years of experience working on issues of peacebuilding in Africa. She has honed her expertise on women, peace, and security.

She was the Executive Head of the Africa Institute of South Africa in the Human Sciences Research Council from 2018 to 2021. In 2013 she was appointed as a Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Johannesburg and became Head of the Department in 2014. She remains a Visiting Professor in the Department as well as at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs at the University of South Africa. Cheryl Hendricks also worked for many years at the Institute for Security Studies in the Conflict Management and Peacebuilding Division.

Her work traverses the areas of conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. More recently, she is focusing on preventing violent extremisms as well as on transitional justice in Africa. She is widely published, continues to teach and to provide policy advice and implementation support on the aforementioned issues.