Dr. Derica Lambrechts is a senior lecturer at the department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University. Since January 2018, she is also the Chair of the department.

She obtained her PhD in 2013 and her research focused on state society relationships, specifically analysing the relationship between the gangs on the Cape Flats and the City of Cape Town. She is a trained political risk analyst, and has published extensively in the field of political risk and political security risk analysis, with a focus on organised crime.

In 2018 she obtained National Research Foundation rating Y: young upcoming researcher. She continues to research the relationship between non-state (criminal groups) and state actors.