Professor Cheryl Merle de la Rey is a South African academic who, since 2019, has been vice-chancellor of University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

[2] She was formerly Vice-Chancellor of the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

[citation needed] Professor De la Rey's research focused on race and gender,[3] especially the construction of gender and gender-based violence.

[citation needed] Professor De la Rey spent time as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town before being named Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria in November 2009, replacing Calie Pistorius.

[citation needed] In October 2020, De la Rey was the subject of a letter critical of an attempt by the University of Canterbury to review the work of Anne-Marie Brady concerning Chinese Communist Party influence in New Zealand.