Associate ProfessorChristopher Pepin-Neff

Chris Pepin-Neff (they/them) is an Associate Professor in Public Policy in the Discipline of Government and International Relations in the School of Social and Political Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Their research interests include theories of the policy process, policy analysis, the role of emotions, moral panic agenda-setting, and comparative public policy.

Pepin-Neff's research launched the sub-field of 'human-shark studies' in 2006, looking at social science aspects of human-shark issues, including media coverage, policymaking, and social discourse. In this work, Pepin-Neff challenged the dominance of the phrase "shark attack" and coined the phrase "Jaws Effect." In addition, they advanced the policy studies literature around moral panic agenda-setting, conceiving of the concepts of 'emotional taxation,' 'tolerable inequality;' and 'loser issues' as well as the High Affect-Low Threshold Framework (HALT) and the Expected Penalty Policy Cycle (EPPC).

Chris's work has been published in leading academic journals, including Politics & Gender, Policy Studies, Australian Journal of Political Science, Australian Journal of Public Administration, the Journal of Homosexuality, Marine Policy, Conservation Letters, Human-Dimensions of Wildlife, Biology, and Scientific American. Their research has been noted in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Guardian, Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, National Public Radio, the BBC, BBC World Service, Time magazine, People magazine, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, New Scientist, the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Washington Post. 

Prior to entering academia, they held positions as a lobbyist, consultant, Senate aide, non-profit executive, and presidential campaign aide. Pepin-Neff spent 18 years working in Washington, D.C., on issues, including repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, transgender military service, marriage equality in Vermont, women's reproductive rights, and founded Q Street, the world's first LGBTQ+ lobbyist association. Chris brings that practitioner experience to their undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research.