Christopher Pepin-Neff

Christopher Pepin-Neff (they/them) is an American-Australian social scientist, public policy lecturer, and LGBTQ rights advocate. They are known for their 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). They 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 their area of research includes agenda setting, policy advocacy and the political dimensions of shark attacks. Their 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. They 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 their 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