| Christopher Pepin-Neff | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American-Australian |
| Education | James Madison University and University of Sydney |
| Occupation(s) | Social scientist, public policy lecturer, and LGBTQ rights advocate |
| Known for | Study on political dimensions of shark attacks and public policies |
Christopher Pepin-Neff is an American-Australian social scientist, public policy lecturer, and LGBTQ rights advocate. He is known for his research and findings on public behavior and shark attacks.
Pepin-Neff is a former president of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance.
Education
Pepin-Neff holds a BA in Political Science from James Madison University in Virginia (1999) and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Sydney (2007). He also earned a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Sydney (2014).
Research
Pepin-Neff is a lecturer in public policy at the University of Sydney and his area of research includes agenda setting, policy advocacy and the political dimensions of shark attacks. His 2013 study published in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences argued that not all shark encounters are attacks and sharks should not be hunted with nets because of their reputation as killers. The study also reflected that television programs and movies imprints certain images in the public’s mind of sharks, which needs to be corrected. He examined the shark hunt policies implemented by different WA Governments between 2000 and 2014 and found similarities with the 1975 Hollywood film Jaws.
In the same year, Pepin-Neff and Thomas Wynter surveyed Shark Valley at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium to examine the public perception of sharks, causes of shark bites, and public sentiment towards the culling of sharks. The study, published in Marine Policy, concluded that people were less frightened of sharks than previously assumed and that 87 percent of 583 respondents said that sharks should not be killed upon understanding shark behavior.
Activism
Pepin-Neff has been an activist for LGBTQ causes. Certain reforms and changes to the discourse of policies governing the lives of people in the LGBTQ community have taken place due to his activism. They were a lobbyist for the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” the ban on gays in the military. They also founded Q Street, the LGBTQ lobbyist and government affairs organization in the United States.
Selected bibliography
Pepin-Neff has contributed to many research books and journals.
Books
| Year | Title | Genre | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | LGBTQ Lobbying in the United States | LGBTQ politics | Taylor & Francis Limited |
| 2019 | Flaws: Shark Bites and Emotional Public Policymaking | Political science, public policy | Springer International Publishing |
Book chapters
| Year | Title | Contribution | Author(s) | Publication |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Exploring the C-SPAN Archives: Advancing the Research Agenda | The Performance of Roll Call Votes as Political Cover in the US Senate: Using C-SPAN to Analyze the Vote to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (pp. 191–211) | Robert S. Browning | Indiana: Purdue University Press |
| 2014 | Sharks: Conservation, governance, and management | Human perceptions and attitudes towards sharks: Examining the predator policy paradox, (pp. 107–131) | Erika J. Techera, Natalie Klein | Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge |
| 2014 | Evolution of Government Policy Towards Homosexuality in the US Military: The Rise and Fall of DADT | The Rise of Repeal: Policy Entrepreneurship and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” | James E. Parco, David A. Levy, Chapter co-written with Edgell, L. | UK: Routledge |
Journals
| Year | Title | Co-Author(s) | Publication | Issue, Pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Costs of Pride: Survey Results from LGBTQI Activists in the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia | Wynter, T. | Politics and Gender | 16(2), 498-524 |
| 2019 | A response to Clua and Linnell | Conservation Letters | 12(2) | |
| 2018 | Funny Evidence: Female Comics are the New Policy Entrepreneurs | Caporale, K. | Australian Journal of Public Administration | 77(4), 554-567 |
| 2018 | Reducing fear to influence policy preferences: An experiment with sharks and beach safety policy options | Wynter, T. | Marine Policy | 88, 222-229 |
| 2018 | Shark Bites and Shark Conservation: An Analysis of Human Attitudes Following Shark Bite Incidents in Two Locations in Australia | Wynter, T. | Conservation Letters | 11(2), 1-8 |
| 2015 | The Jaws Effect: How movie narratives are used to influence policy responses to shark bites in Western Australia | Australian Journal of Political Science | 50(1), 114-127 | |
| 2013 | Science, policy and the public discourse of shark “attack”: a proposal for reclassifying human-shark interactions | Hueter, R. | Journal of Environmental Studies and Science | 3(1), 65-73 |
| 2013 | Shark bites and public attitudes: Policy implications from the first before and after shark bite survey | Yang, J. | Marine Policy | 38, 545-547 |
| 2013 | The Rise of Repeal: Policy Entrepreneurship and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell | Edgell, L. | Journal of Homosexuality | 60(2-3), 232-249 |
| 2012 | Australian Beach Safety and the Politics of Shark Attacks | Coastal Management | 40(1), 88-106 |
References
- Bezerra, Chord (28 May 2003). "Day of Tribute". Metro Weekly.
- Techera, Erika J.; Klein, Natalie (5 June 2014). Sharks: Conservation, Governance and Management. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-01261-8.
- "USYD Thesis - The Politics of Shark Attacks: Explaining policy responses following shark bites in Florida, Cape Town, and New South Wales". sydney.primo.exlibrisgroup.com.
- "Staff Profile - Dr Christopher Neff - Senior Lecturer in Public Policy". The University of Sydney.
- McDonald, Shae (25 November 2014). "Calls mount for useless shark nets to be removed". Daily Telegraph.
- Sparks, Hannah (15 July 2021). "Shark advocates call for rebranding violent attacks as 'interactions'". New York Post.
- Fears, Darryl (4 February 2013). "Sharks' reputation as man-eaters is unfair and threatens the species, authors say". Washington Post.
- Pash, Chris (December 9, 2014). "Australia's Shark Policies Were Massively Shaped By 'Hollywood Fiction' From The Movie 'Jaws'". Business Insider.
- University of Sydney. "The public fear sharks less when they understand their behaviour". phys.org.
- Staff (April 9, 2014). "Australian shark fear survey shows little support for culling". Times of Malta.
- Woods, Al. "The Power of Lobbying: The Story of a Movement for Gay Rights and Policies". Flux magazine.
- "City Council Takes On Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Gay City News.
- "Christopher Pepin-Neff". scholar.google.com.
- "Christopher Pepin-Neff Research". ResearchGate.
- Pepin-Neff, Christopher L. (2021). LGBTQ Lobbying in the United States. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-77222-2.
- Pepin-Neff, Christopher L. (20 February 2019). Flaws: Shark Bites and Emotional Public Policymaking. Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-10976-9.