As a prominent member of the Griffith Law School and the Law Futures Centre, Professor Susan Harris Rimmer has dedicated her career to advancing international human rights law, climate justice and gender equality.
She shared a stage with [then] German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Berlin G20 speaking about gender equality issues; wrote the human rights assessment used in the bid for the FIFA Women’s World Cup for Australia and New Zealand, which resulted in a human rights compliant tournament; was appointed by the Queensland Attorney-General last year to conduct a review of the Queensland Human Rights Act, and has just been appointed to the Administrative Review tribunal as a sessional tribunal member.
Commencing her Griffith University journey in 2015 as an Associate Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, Professor Harris Rimmer soon stepped up as Deputy Head of School (Research) in the Griffith Law School and Deputy Director of the Law Futures Centre and has continued to achieve and advocate at every opportunity since.
She has also been leading the Climate Justice theme of the Griffith Climate Action Beacon, is co-convenor of the Griffith Gender Equality Research Network, and remains a member of the Griffith Asia Institute.
Professor Harris Rimmer describes her academic journey as one big adventure, having grown up in Coonabarabran (regional New South Wales) and being the first person in her family to finish high school, let alone attend university and become an international lawyer.
First gaining her law degree from the University of Queensland, she had just won a Future Fellowship at the Australian National University when she joined Griffith Law School.
“I was really drawn to Griffith’s values and the fact social justice activism was encouraged,” Professor Harris Rimmer said.
“I’m a very activist academic and unashamedly interested in human rights and social justice, so that was really important to me.
“I was always obsessed with human rights issues, so to do research in that field is wonderful.”
Professor Harris Rimmer is also a well-honed public speaker, making appearances roughly once a week, or up to every day during peak periods such as around International Women’s Day.
“I feel like my speeches rather than my writing have probably had the most impact on changing people’s perspectives,” she said.
“People want to be heard, and even if they violently disagree with you, they enjoy the conversation.”
Professor Harris Rimmer has been acknowledged with a wealth of awards and accolades across her career including the Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Award, being named one of the Westpac and Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence in the Global category, and the Bertha Lutz Prize for her research on women in diplomacy, awarded by the International Studies Association.
Throughout this time, her tireless ambition to support others has seen her assisting many in achieving their own goals, through her teaching and supervision duties.
“I have a huge amount of pride and happiness when my PhD students do well, or when any of my students generally do well in the world,” she said.
“When they achieve their goals, that’s really exciting to me.”
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Susan Harris Rimmer
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