Robert Ridley

Ridley graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1977^[1] and went on to take a doctorate in Wolverhampton in 1980.

Ridley specialised in the development of treatments for malaria at Hoffman-La Roche. He took leave from that research to work for the World Health Organisation as Medicines for Malaria Venture was launched in 1999. He was a key figure in its establishment^[1] and he became the company's Chief Scientific Officer until 2001. In 2002 he published a paper in the British journal Nature about the work required for anti-malarial drugs.^[2]

The World Health Organisation created the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Disease^[3] in the 1970s, and in 2004, Ridley became its director.^[1]

Ridley, as vice chancellor, defended a proposed rise in fees at Mzuzu University after student protests in 2016.^[4]

In 2018 he left Mzuzu as he was appointed as the deputy vice chancellor at the Unicaf Universitys campus in Lilongwe.^[5][6] His appointment was disputed by another candidate who took out a court case against the university. The rejected candidate claimed that the university had ignored some of his qualifications.^[7]

His university established itself and its sixth cohort of students graduated with degrees in 2025 at the Bingu International Conference Centre.^[8] Ridley has encouraged his students to read widely.^[9]