Rod is an Emeritus Professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He was the director of the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, chief executive of Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board and previously a deputy commissioning editor in the Independent Film and Video Department at Channel 4 Television. He has made a number of documentaries for television including Ireland: The Silent Voices and Italy: the Image Business. He is the author of Chávez: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, A Case Study of Politics and the Media; Seeing is Believing: The Politics of the Visual and Educating Filmmakers: Past, Present and Future with Duncan Petrie.