Baroness Cox was a deputy speaker in the House of Lords from 1985 to 2005. She was Founder Chancellor of Bournemouth University; Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University from 2006 to 2013 and is an Honorary Vice President of the Royal College of Nursing. She was a founder Trustee of MERLIN (Medical Emergency Relief International) and is Chief Executive of HART (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust).

Her humanitarian work takes her to conflict zones, including Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda, and Myanmar (Burma). She also helped to establish the International Islamic Christian Organisation for Reconciliation and Reconstruction (IICORR) in Indonesia.