Peter J. Rimmer AM is an English-born economic and human geographer concerned with urban and regional development within the Asian-Pacific Rim with a particular emphasis on the role of communications, transport (road, rail, sea, air) and logistics.

Early life and education

Born 29 October 1935 in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England, Rimmer was educated at William Stockton County Primary School (1939-47) and, on a scholarship, the King's School, Chester (1947-54). Supported by a State Scholarship, University Graduate Scholarship and a Ministry of Education award, he graduated in Geography from University of Manchester (BA, 1958, MA, 1960) and matriculated from Trinity Hall, Cambridge University (Graduate Certificate of Education, 1959). In 1961 he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship[1] and left England to study at University of Canterbury, New Zealand, where he was awarded a PhD (1966) for a dissertation on the country’s seaports.[2] In 2006 Rimmer was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters by examination at the Australian National University.[3]

Career

Rimmer was a schoolmaster at the Oldershaw Grammar School, Wallasey (1960-62), and Labour councillor for the Victoria Ward, Ellesmere Port Municipal Borough Council. In 1965, he moved to Australia to take up an appointment to teach Geography at Monash University, Melbourne (1965-67). From 1967-2000 he was based in the Department of Geography/Human Geography in the then Research School of Pacific (and Asian) Studies, Australian National University. He was appointed Distinguished Professor of Global Logistics in the Inha University Graduate School of Logistics, Incheon, Korea (2005-07). Rimmer was Adjunct Professor, University of Canberra (Urban & Logistics) from 2003-2013.

Rimmer served as editorial advisor for several journals including Australian Geographical Studies, Journal of Sustainable Transport, Journal of International Logistics and Trade, Journal of Transport Geography and Asia-Pacific Viewpoint. He has been a consultant to international aid agencies, notably the Asian Development Bank[4] and the World Bank.

Honours

Rimmer was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1992;[5] received a Professional Service Commendation from the Institute of Australian Geographers in 2000[6] and in 2018 was conferred a Life Membership of the Institute of Australian Geographers. Rimmer was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to economic geography, and to the urban and regional development in the Asia-Pacific Rim, particularly through research into the area of transport and communications systems".[7] In 2022, he was awarded the J.P. Thomson Medal by the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland.[8]

A bequest by former PhD student, the late Associate Professor Lisa Drummond,[9] led to the Peter J. Rimmer Prize being instituted at the Australian National University in 2023.

Published works (recent)

References

  1. ^ 50 Years of Commonwealth Scholarships New Zealand 1959-2009 (New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, 2009), p. 8. https://www.universitiesnz.ac.nz/files/u12/NZVCC_Conf_Book_WEB.pdf
  2. ^ P.J. Rimmer, New Zealand Seaports (PhD, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, awarded 1966). Two volumes available at https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/items/781f57de-974b-4b9a-a4f9-112f48c96e91 Peter J. Rimmer, "Recent Changes in the Status of Seaports in the New Zealand Coastal Trade", Economic Geography Vol. 43 (3), July 1967, pp. 231-243.
  3. ^ Asian-Pacific Rim: Developmental State and Regional Integration. Volume One The Japanese Ascendancy. Volume Two Integrating the Asian-Pacific Rim (DLitt, Australian National University, awarded 2006).
  4. ^ Peter J. Rimmer and Howard Dick, "Economic space for transnational infrastructure: gateways, multimodal corridors and special economic zones" in Biswa N. Bhattacharyay, Masahiro Kawai, Rajat Nag eds., Infrastructure for Asian Connectivity, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012, pp. 217-253.
  5. ^ https://socialsciences.org.au/academy-fellow/?sId=0032v000033l9WpAAI (accessed 26 October 2023).
  6. ^ https://www.iag.org.au/previous-iag-awards (accessed 26 October 2023).
  7. ^ https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1134780 (accessed 26 October 2023).
  8. ^ https://rgsq.org.au/resources/Site/Society/J.P.%20Thomson%20Medallists_web.pdf (accessed 26 October 2023).
  9. ^ "Remembering Lisa Drummond – YCAR".
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