Alison Rodger
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Alison Rodger (born November 21, 1959) is a Scottish-Australian chemist who is a professor of chemistry at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
. Her research considers biomacromolecular structures and their characterisation. She is currently developing fluorescence detected liner dichroism, Raman Linear Difference Spectroscopy and attenuated total reflectance Vibrational linear dichroism to understand biomacromolecular structure and interactions with application to the division of bacterial cells.


Early life and education

Rodger was born in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
to John and Margaret McDougall. She earned her bachelor's, PhD and DSc from
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
. She was awarded the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
University Medal for theoretical chemistry. Whilst a student, Roger developed Classical Selection Rule (CSR), a procedure that can be used to analyse reaction mechanisms. In 1985 she completed a diploma in
Biblical Studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the can ...
at
Moore Theological College Moore Theological College, otherwise known simply as Moore College, is the theological training seminary of the Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia. The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney holds ''ex officio'' the presidency of t ...
. She gained a master's degree at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
in 1988. She moved to the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
for a second DSc, and earned a bachelor's degree in theology at the
University of Chester The University of Chester is a public university located in Chester, England. The university originated as the first purpose-built teacher training college in the UK. As a university, it now occupies five campuses, campus sites in and around Ch ...
. Rodger was appointed a Beatrice Dale Fellowship at
Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...
from 1985 to 1988.


Research and career

In 1985 Rodger joined Newnham College Cambridge as a Beatrice Dale Research fellow. 1988 Rodger she moved to the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
as a
Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...
Fellow in St Catherine's College. She moved to St Hilda's College in 1991. She developed the UK's first
Couette flow In fluid dynamics, Couette flow is the flow of a viscosity, viscous fluid in the space between two surfaces, one of which is moving tangentially relative to the other. The relative motion of the surfaces imposes a shear stress on the fluid and ind ...
linear dichroism facilities. In 1994 Rodger joined the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
as a Lecturer. She was made a Senior Lecturer in 1998, a Reader in 2003 and a Professor in 2005. Rodger was Head of the Department of Chemistry at the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
from 2014 to 2016. She was the only woman academic in the Physical Chemistry Laboratory at Oxford and the Department of Chemistry at the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
for over 11 years. She has been involved with several initiatives to improve gender balance in academic chemistry, including
Athena SWAN Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 that recognises and celebrates good pra ...
and a European partnership, PLOTINA (Promoting Gender Balance and Inclusion in Research, Innovation and Training). PLOTINA looked to drive cultural change by developing diverse, inclusive work environments. Under Rodger's leadership, Warwick was the fourth institution to achieve silver
Athena SWAN Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 that recognises and celebrates good pra ...
status. She was the founder and Director of the
Doctoral Training Centre Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs; also called Centres for Doctoral TrainingCentr ...
in Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells. The
Doctoral Training Centre Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs; also called Centres for Doctoral TrainingCentr ...
was one of the first
EPSRC The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...
-funded DTCs. She developed a postgraduate certificate in transferable skills to support early career researchers. She moved to
Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...
in 2017, where she established an open-access biophysical spectroscopy facility for collaborators. In 2024, she joined the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
. as Director of the Research School of Chemistry. Rodger is interested in how the structure and arrangement of biomolecules impact their function. She developed the technology for UV- Linear Dichroism spectroscopy. Her lab became the national and international hub of
Couette flow In fluid dynamics, Couette flow is the flow of a viscosity, viscous fluid in the space between two surfaces, one of which is moving tangentially relative to the other. The relative motion of the surfaces imposes a shear stress on the fluid and ind ...
Linear Dichroism, allowing scientists to obtain structural and kinetic information about several systems. She demonstrated that it is possible to orient membrane systems of liposomes. Rodgers developed Raman Linear Difference Spectroscopy to study the division of bacterial cells. She designed a new instrument that could measure
Raman optical activity Raman optical activity (ROA) is a vibrational spectroscopic technique that is reliant on the difference in intensity of Raman scattered right and left circularly polarised light due to molecular chirality. History of Raman optical activity The ...
and Raman Linear Difference Spectroscopy in an effort to probe the secondary and tertiary structures of biomacromolecules. Her research in the UK was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council,
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds science, scient ...
. Rodger serves on the advisory board of the Protein Circular Dichroism Data Bank. In 2015 she was named on the Analytical Science Power List. She joined the council at
St John's College, Nottingham St John's College, Nottingham, founded as the London College of Divinity, was an Anglican and interdenominational theological college situated in Bramcote, Nottingham, England. The college stood in the open evangelical tradition and stated that i ...
in 2015. Rodger completed a bachelor's degree in
Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
at St John's College whilst working as a Professor of Biophysical Chemistry. She serves on the
Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...
Science and Technology Advisory Panel. Alongside investigating
circular dichroism Circular dichroism (CD) is dichroism involving circular polarization, circularly polarized light, i.e., the differential Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of left- and right-handed light. Left-hand circular (LHC) and right-hand ci ...
of biomacromolecules, Rodger has studied molecular electronic systems. She co-led the UK Circular and Linear Dichroism Summer School for over 10 years. She was a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Council until she left the UK in 2017. She was very involved in Athena SWAN in the UK and was part of the
Athena SWAN Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 that recognises and celebrates good pra ...
expansion in Australia, SAGE. She is a member of Barker College Council and an Honorary Member of the British Biophysical Society. In 2021 she received the accolade of election as Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...
.


Awards

Rodger was awarded the David Craig Medal and Lecture in 2025.


Books

* 2017 ''Circular Dichroism and Linear Dichroism'' * 2014 ''Molecular Geometry'' * 2010 ''Linear Dichroism and Circular Dichroism: A Textbook on Polarized-light Spectroscopy''


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodger, Alison Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Academic staff of Macquarie University Australian biochemists Australian women chemists 1959 births Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Alumni of the University of Oxford Scottish emigrants to Australia Scottish biochemists Scottish women chemists 21st-century Scottish chemists 20th-century Scottish chemists University of Sydney alumni Alumni of the University of Warwick Alumni of the University of Chester