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 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).[2] He also earned a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Sydney (2014).[3]
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.[4] 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.[5][6] The study also reflected that television programs and movies imprints certain images in the public’s mind of sharks, which needs to be corrected.[7] He examined the shark hunt policies implemented by different WA Governments between 2000 and 2014 and found similarities with the 1975 Hollywood film Jaws.[8]
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.[9][10]
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.[11][12]
Selected bibliography
Pepin-Neff has contributed to many research books and journals.[13][14]
Flaws: Shark Bites and Emotional Public Policymaking[16]
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