Roderick Cowan’s portfolio career spans over three decades of writing, teaching, and speaking at conferences and public events, as well as assisting in various Government investigations and corporate research.

He has worked for corporations, government departments, NGOs, and universities. In 2008, he developed the first Media Studies and Terrorism Masters unit for the Macquarie University Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counterterrorism (PICT 805). From 2013 on, he lectured and taught to various organisations, including universities, intelligence organisations, international airlines, and government departments about open-source intelligence and the dangers of social media, during which time he was instrumental in establishing an open-source investigation unit for an international organisation based in the Middle East.

He began researching and writing about the threats and opportunities social media presented in 2011. His conference presentations on the topic began in 2012 in Australia, the UK, The Middle East, Canada, and America. In 2015, he began presenting corporate training courses in media management, incorporating his research, notably for Emirates Airlines, UK airports, and most recently a US State Department-funded version for Parliamentary staff in Tbilisi, Georgia.