The Royal Society
Rod Cookson has a diverse work experience in the publishing industry. Rod has held various roles in organizations such as The Royal Society, Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association, The Society Publishers' Coalition, and IWA Publishing. Rod has also served as a director, council member, and advisory council member in associations and committees related to publishing. Rod has worked for Taylor & Francis Group and Blackwell Publishing in editorial and managerial positions. Rod's experience spans across different sectors within the publishing field.
Rod Cookson received their Bachelor of Arts Honours First Class degree in Human Geography from the University of Liverpool from 1987 to 1990.
The Royal Society
The Royal Society is the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, and has been at the forefront of enquiry and discovery since its foundation in 1660. The backbone of the Society is its Fellowship of the most eminent scientists of the day, elected by peer review for life and entitled to use FRS after their name. There are currently more than 60 Nobel Laureates amongst the Society's approximately 1400 Fellows and Foreign Members. Throughout its history, the Society has promoted excellence in science through its Fellowship and Foreign Membership, which has included Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, Dorothy Hodgkin, Francis Crick, James Watson and Stephen Hawking. The Society is independent of government, as it has been throughout its existence, by virtue of its Royal Charters. In 1663, The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge was granted its Arms and adopted the motto "Nullius in verba", an expression of its enduring commitment to empirical evidence as the basis of knowledge about the natural world. The Society's activities include influencing science and education policy, funding leading researchers, publishing journals that span all the sciences and the history of science, and the provision of science communication activities for a variety of public audiences.