Professor Cook is one of Australia's foremost earth scientists in the areas of energy, resources, and greenhouse gas technologies, a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and a Senior Consultant and Adviser to industry and governments. Professor Cook has occupied a number of senior positions during his career, including Executive Director of British Geological Survey (BGS), Associate Director of the Bureau of Mineral Resources (now Geoscience Australia), and Executive Director of the Petroleum Cooperative Research Centre. He initiated the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) in 2003 and served as its Chief Executive until 2011. During this time he initiated carbon capture and storage (CCS) research in Australia, through the GEODISC and subsequent programmes and established the world-leading CO2CRC Otway research site. Professor Cook holds the degrees of BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD and DSc. He has held academic positions in the UK, Australia, France and the USA, and has received many Awards and Honours, including the CBE (UK), the Order of Merit (France), the Greenman Award (IEAGHG), the John Coke Medal (Geological Society of London), the Leopold von Buch Medal (Germany), the Lewis G. Weeks Gold Medal (Australian Petroleum Exploration Association), and the Centennial Medal (Australia).