Rodney D. Cocks

Rodney Cocks is an international affairs expert, author, speaker, lawyer, Harvard Fellow, Wharton MBA and former recipient of an Australian of the Year Award.

Rodney began his career in the military as an officer in the Royal Australian Infantry, where he was promoted to the rank of Captain. His service took him around the globe, including a deployment to the UN Peacekeeping mission in East Timor. In 2002 while on leave from the East Timor, Rodney was holidaying in Bali at the time of the bombings that killed 202 people. Injured in the attacks, he helped the injured and dying and performed trauma first aid. He was later awarded an Australian Conspicuous Service Medal and a UN Peacekeeping Force Commander's Commendation for his actions.

In 2003, leaving the military, Rodney joined the UN's civilian humanitarian de-mining team in Iraq which was responsible for the removal of millions of mines and unexploded munitions in the country and supporting the establishment of an Iraqi Government de-mining organization. During this volatile time in Baghdad he was again injured when a suicide bomber struck the UN's Headquarters that killed dozens of people. Like Bali, he rendered help in the aftermath, and was commended for his actions.

Rodney was then deployed to the UN Mission in Afghanistan in early 2004 as an adviser covering security issues in the former Taliban and Al Qaeda stronghold of Kandahar. He supported two democratic elections, a disarmament process, humanitarian relief programs and reconstruction projects. In 2007 he took up a similar role in the UN Mission in Sri Lanka as an adviser on security issues in the volatile areas northern Sri Lanka, where there was ongoing conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers.

In late 2007 Rodney returned to Australia and run for Federal Parliamentary office with the Australian Labor Party. Although his party was successful in winning government, Rodney was unsuccessful in his seat by approximately 0.5% of the vote.

In 2008 Rodney joined the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Counter-Narcotics Team at the British Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. During this time he was active in various programs that all contributed to a 22% crop decrease over the growing season.

Rodney took a sabbatical in 2009 to pursue graduate studies at Harvard and The University of Pennsylvania in the US.

Rodney has published an autobiographical book, Bali to Baghdad and Beyond, through Penguin. He has also co-authored the Afghanistan (under the pen name Nick Walker) and Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway Lonely Planet Guidebooks and authored the Timor-Leste (East Timor) Lonely Planet Guidebook.

In 2005 Rodney was named the Victorian Australian of the Year for his humanitarian service in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, and for his actions following the Bali and Baghdad terrorist attacks, which is one of six awards nationally each year.

Rodney holds a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Laws from the Queensland University of Technology Law School and is an admitted lawyer in all-Australian jurisdictions. He also has an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania where he was a Joseph Wharton Scholar, and is currently undertaking a MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School where he is a Dubin Fellow at the Harvard Center for Public Leadership.

Rodney is married and has a daughter and a son.

www.rodneycocks.com