Knighthood for CASS Chief Project Ambassador

Cary Cooper, Distinguished Professor of Organisational Psychology and Chief Project Ambassador for CASS, has been knighted for his services to social science.

“This honour really means a lot to me – particularly as an American who has now made his home in Britain,” said Professor Sir Cooper.

“It’s a real thrill and pretty humbling for someone like me who has come from a working-class background – with immigrant parents from the Ukraine and Romania – and being the first in my family to go to university.

“I’ve lived in the UK for 50 years, having moved to the UK as a student in 1964. So now I feel as if I have finally been accepted!”

Professor Sir Cooper has been chair of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences, an umbrella body of 46 learned societies in the social sciences representing 88,000 social scientists, since 2009. In 2001 he was awarded a CBE for his contribution to occupational safety and health. He was also lead scientist on the Government Office for Science Foresight project, Mental Capital and Wellbeing, in 2008.  He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians, was the founding President of the British Academy of Management and is currently President of Relate.

He is the author or editor of over 160 books and written over 400 scholarly articles for academic journals . He is also a frequent contributor to national newspapers, TV and radio.

He is currently working with MPs, Lords and board-level business leaders as part of the All-Parliamentary Commission on the Future of Management. The Commission, which is co-chaired by Peter Ayliffe, President of the Chartered Management Institute, and Barry Sheerman, MP, will report its findings in July.

Profile: Chief Project Ambassador Cary Cooper

carycooperWe are very proud to introduce Prof. Sir Cary Cooper, the Centre’s Chief Project Ambassador. Prof. Sir Cooper is a Distinguished Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health in Lancaster University’s highly acclaimed Management School, and Chair of the Academy of Social Sciences, and thus has a broad experience of the different disciplines within the Centre’s purview.

Prof. Sir Cooper holds the Centre’s ideology of bettering broad dissemination of research results close to his own heart. In addition to his academic positions, Professor Sir Cooper is also the President of the Institute of Welfare, Past President of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, President of RELATE, a former national Ambassador of The Samaritans, and a Patron of the Anxiety UK. As such, he has many links to non-academic users of research beyond those directly named as Ambassadors within the Centre.

As Chief Project Ambassador, Prof. Sir Cooper sits on the Management Board of CASS specifically to represent the interests of the other Project Ambassadors, liaising with them to ensure that their involvements with the Centre are mutually advantageous and result in the highest quality benefits for users of research at all levels. As the Chief Project Ambassador, Prof. Sir Cooper also reviews nominations for new non-academic members of the College proposed by members of the Centre, and presents the case for inclusion to the Centre management board.

Prof. Sir Cooper holds the mission of CASS in high regard, believing that heightened interdisciplinarity and wider distribution of knowledge can have some very positive effects on the work of academics and non-academics alike. CASS is very pleased to have such an esteemed scholar and forward thinker leading up the College of Project Ambassadors.