Photo of Dr Peter Simmons Dr Peter Simmons

Profile

Peter is Associate Head of School in Bathurst. At CSU he has lectured in organisational communication and public relations. Previously he taught corporate communication in the UK and Singapore.

Before joining CSU Peter specialised in communication and strategic change management. He worked in advertising, media and government relations, employee communication, strategic planning and management, and public information campaigns.

Between 1995 and 2000 he developed and managed numerous action research projects with grants from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care General Practice Program, NSW Health, and other health agencies.

Peter's professional associations include:

  • Member International Society of Justice Research
  • Member Australia and New Zealand Communication Association
  • Member Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
  • Member International Society of Football Scholars
  • Member NSW Soccer Referees Incorporated
  • Director, Reliance Credit Union 2000-2003
  • Member Asian Media Information and Communication Centre

Peter is an occasional reviewer for several journals and conferences:

  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication - PR Division
  • Australia and New Zealand Communication Association
  • International Journal of Sport Communication
  • Journal of Communication Management
  • Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports
  • Prism Online PR Journal

Back to Staff Listing

Top of page


Teaching

Peter is a senior lecturer in organisational communication and public relations. His subject specialties include employee communication, research methods, stakeholder engagement, public relations and project management.

Back to Staff Listing

Top of page


Research

Peter's research interests include the ethics of journalist and public relations interaction, public relations evaluation, and justice in sports communication. In 2008 he was the first Australian to become a Joao Havelange FIFA Research Scholarship recipient.

Peter's research interests and publications include:

  • The relationship between communication practices and fairness perceptions
  • Relationships between journalists and military public relations in Iraq
  • "Fake news" and "Press release journalism"
  • Evaluation and research by Australian public relations practitioners
  • Prevention and management of player aggression by football referees
  • Player perceptions of justice in football referee communication
  • Player reactions to referee decisions in Spain, Malaysia, Australia and England
  • FIFA Switzerland. Joao Havelange Research Scholarship recipient (2008). Justice, Culture and Football Referee Communication.
  • Arts Faculty Research Committee Publication Grant (2007-8) Fields of Justice.
  • Arts Faculty Research Committee Seed Grant (2006-7) Fair Call: Player Perceptions of Football Referee Communication.
  • Arts Faculty Research Committee (2005). The ethics of press release journalism. Co researcher Edward Spence. Acquitted 2005.
  • Arts Faculty seed Grant (2003) Nationwide survey of the evaluation practices and attitudes of Public Relations Professionals. Acquitted 2004.
  • Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care Divisions and Project Grants Program (1998). Community liaison project. Supervised a study of consumer preferences in general practice. Acquitted 2000.
  • Divisions and project grants program (1998). Aboriginal community liaison project. An action research project to improve health services for Aboriginal people. Acquitted 2000.

Back to Staff Listing

Top of page

Top of page


Publications

Refereed Papers
  • Simmons P. and Walsh , B. (in press) " Public Relations and Organisational Justice: More fairness or just more cooperation’ Public Relations Inquiry.
  • Simmons P (2011) " Competent, dependable and respectful: Football refereeing as a model for communicating fairness ", Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Vol 8 (3/4), 33-42
  • Simmons P and Walsh B (2010) "Disliking public relations: Democracy and the habits of ethical communicators", Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Vol 7 (4) 13-19
  • Simmons P and Tiung LK (2010) "Menjejaki keadilan, Budaya dan Komunikasi Pengadil Bola Sepak" (Exploring Justice, Culture and Football Referees- Communication). Akademika, Jurnal Sains Kemasyarakatan dan Kemanusiaan Asia Tenggara (Journal of Southeast Asia Social Sciences and Humanities) 79, 73-86.
  • Simmons P (2010) "Communicative displays as fairness heuristics: Strategic football referee communication", Australian Journal of Communication. 37(1).
  • Simmons P (2007) "Loath to Admit: Pressures on the ethical Disclosure of News Release Sources by Journalists", Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Vol 4 (3) 31-40
  • Hibbert Z and Simmons P (2006) "War reporting and Australian defence public relations, an exchange", Prism. 4(2)
  • Simmons P and Spence E (2006) "The practice and ethics of media release journalism", Australian Journalism Review, 28(1).
  • Xavier R, Johnston K, Patel A, Watson T, and Simmons P. (2005) "Using evaluation techniques and perfomance claims to demonstrate public relations impact: An Australian perspective", Public Relations Review, Greenwich: Sep 2005. 31(3), 417-424
  • Simmons P and Watson T (2005) "Public relations evaluation in Australia " practices and attitudes across sectors and employment status", Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal 6(1) 2005. View the abstract.
  • Andrews, B, Simmons, P, Wilson, R & Long, I (2002). "Identifying and overcoming the barriers to Aboriginal Access to General practitioner Services in Rural New South Wales", Originally published in Australian Journal of Rural Health, August 2002, 10,(4) 188-232. Read the abstract.
Refereed Paper Presentations
  • Simmons, P. & Walsh B. (June, 2011) "Fair call: Exploring the integration of justice and public relations", paper presented to International Public Relations Conference, Barcelona, Spain
  • Simmons, P & Tiung, LK (June, 2010) "Communication and perceptions of fairness: A study of football players in Australia and Malaysia", paper presented to the I-Come International Communication and Media Conference, Malacca, Malaysia. Winner: Best quantitative paper.
  • Alexander, D, Cameron, D, Carroll, J & Simmons, P (July, 2010) "Future-proofing a strategic communication team for a major Australian government entity", paper presented to the Public Relations Conference, Bled, Slovenia. Winner: Best paper.
  • Simmons, P & Walsh B. (2010) "Disliking public relations: Democracy and the habits of ethical communicators", paper presented to Australia and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Conference, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
  • Simmons, P (2009) "Player perceptions of fairness in football referee communication in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain and the UK", presentation to the 12th World Congress of Sport Psychologists, Marrakech, Morocco. June 17-21
  • Simmons P (2008) "Justice, culture and football referee communication", paper presented to the I-Come International Communication and Media Conference, University Utara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • Simmons P (2007) "Fair call: Player perceptions of justice in football referee communication", presentation at the Australia and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Conference, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Simmons P "Loath to admit " pressures on ethical disclosure of news and presentations release sources, paper presented to Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention, San Francisco , August, 2006. 3rd prize: Faculty paper - Media Ethics Division.
  • Simmons P. (2006) "Tackling abuse of officials: Attitudes and communication skills of experienced football referees", paper presented at the Australia and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Conference, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
  • Simmons P and Watson T (2005) "Public relations evaluation in Australia " practices and attitudes across sectors and employment status", paper presented at the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) National Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Watson T and Simmons P (2004) "Public relations evaluation " survey of Australian practitioners, paper presented at the Australian New Zealand Communication Association Conference, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

Non-refereed Conference Papers

  • Simmons, P. (July, 2011) "Theorising football referee communication", paper delivered to: Theorising the Popular Conference, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK.
  • Simmons, P. (June, 2010) "Referee communication mitigates player uncertainty about decision correctness", paper delivered to: 2nd World Conference on Science and Soccer, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
  • Simmons, P. (June, 2010) "Fairness as communication strategy for mitigating player uncertainty about referee decisions", paper delivered to The Economics and Psychology of Football. Investigating decision making phenomena in the beautiful game. Conference at Heythrop College, University of London.
  • Simmons P. (2008) "Measuring football player reactions to different referee communication behaviours", paper presented to the III European Congress of Methodology, held in conjunction with the Society for Multivariate Analysis in the Behavioural and Social Sciences (SMABS) University of Oviedo, Spain.

Other Publications

  • Simmons, P & Schoenmaker, S (2010) "Effective Organisational Communication: Perspectives, Principles & Practices (3rd edition)" by Richard Blundel and Kate Ippolito (2008). Book review in Journal of Communication Management, 14 (4) 390-392
  • Simmons, P. (2009) "Justice, culture and football referee communication", Final report of Joao Havelange Research Scholarship study to FIFA / CIES Scientific Committee, Switzerland. 1.3Mb [PDF]
  • Simmons, P. (2006) "The Hidden Hand in News" The Bulletin of Public and Corporate Communication. CSU: Gavin Anderson. Sydney. Iss.3.
  • Simmons, P. (2005) "Walking the Talk", The Bulletin of Public and Corporate Communication. CSU: Gavin Anderson. Sydney. Vol.1.Iss.1.
  • Newland J, Simmons P, Mackey, K, Adair I. (1999) "Governance Policies and Protocols: A Basic guide for Board Members of Divisions of General Practice."
Other Presentations
  • Simmons, P., Small, F. and Dowell, D. (2012) "The Respectful Partnership and student satisfaction", presentation delivered to the National Practice-Based Education Summit, Charles Sturt University, Homebush, Australia.
  • Simmons, P. (2011) "Satisfaction and perceived fairness of CSU and subjects", presentation delivered to CSUED2010 Conference, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia.
  • Simmons, P. (2010) "Justice, injustice and student perceptions subject delivery", presentation delivered to CSUED2010 Conference, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia.
  • Simmons, P. (2009) "The influence of subject procedures and lecturer interaction on student perceptions of fairness", presentation delivered to CSUED2009 Conference, Charles Sturt University, Thurgoona, 2009.
  • Simmons, P. (2004) "Evaluation practices of Australian PR practitioners", Local Government Public Relations Association Annual Convention, Sydney.
  • Simmons, P. (1995) "The hospital's role in providing preadmission information to surgery patients", presentation delivered to the International Conference on Health Promotion held at Brunel University, London, England.
  • Simmons, P (1995) "Health promotion and surgery: The Parkes hospital preadmission information package", presentation to 7th National health promotion conference. What's working, not working and networking in health promotion. Brisbane Hilton, Australia.
  • Simmons, P & Dunham, G (1993) "I didn't know what to ask" - patient admissions at Parkes District Hospital. Presentation to NSW Health Customer Focus Conference, Wesley Centre Sydney.
  • Middleton, J & Simmons, P (1991) "Point of sale: nutrition promotion at Woolworths", presentation to 3rd Annual Health promotion conference: Nutrition and Exercise Programs. Crest Hotel, Sydney, Australia.

Top of page

Back to Staff Listing

Top of page