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University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment

 School of Geography and the Environment

Dr Paul Jepson

Academic Profile

Paul Jepson is course director of the MSc in Nature, Society and in Environmental Policy. Prior to this appointment in January 2007, he held Senior Research Fellowships with the Environmental Change Institute and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Said Business School. Paul transferred into academia from a successful career in conservation management and policy. He has consulted for a wide range of inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations and was Indonesia Programme Coordinator for BirdLife International (1991-1997). He started his career as a local government countryside officer developing new urban conservation initiatives in Manchester and Shrewsbury (UK). His research interests span protected area planning, wildlife trade, conservation history, attitudes, values and practices, media representations of conservation issues, and the role, accountability and legitimacy of conservation NGOs.

Current Research: Conservation Governance Lab

Paul leads an interdisciplinary research group working to generate richer conceptualizations of how conservation actors build, extend and legitimate their influence. The identity of the Conservation Governance Lab is founded on the belief that important insights lie at the interfaces of the natural and social science and of theory and practice. To this end, lab members collectively explore the efficacy of Human Geography theory and analytics for generating novel and useful insights on questions relating to conservation governance.

Paul's current research centres on four related aspects of conservation governance. One is self-governance, and in particular how conservation might build influence in situations where the engagement governmental or corporate bodies is absent. A second strand is an investigation of the agency of 'biocultural' terms and phenomena in conservation (e.g. extinction, flagships, rediscovery) and their role in producing the institutional practices and actor assemblages of conservation. A third, related strand is the role of non-human actors (species, technologies and devices) in the assembly and behavior of conservation networks. A forth concerns the interplay of western-formulated conservation logics and policy instruments with local cultural and resource management institutions. These themes interplay with older interests in conservation biogeography, NGO accountability and newer interests in eco-informatics.

Conservation Governance Research Team
  • Maan Barua
    The political ecology of human-elephant interactions in India.
  • Kathleen Buckingham
    Managing green gold: reconfiguring bamboo management for sustainability and to what extent certification creates an arena for change.
  • Jon David
    Biodiversity Modeller, BioFresh.
  • Nina Kruglikova
    Environmental NGOs and eco-media technologies: an ethnographic study.
  • Dr Richard Ladle
    Senior Visiting Research Associate.
  • Mari Mulyani
    The interplay between the REDD+ mechanism and forest-related institutions in Indonesia
  • Gillian Petrokofsky (Plant Sciences, Oxford)
    Strengthening the evidence base for English forestry policy formulation.
  • Rob St John
    Communications and Project Co-ordinator, BioFresh.
Selected Research Projects (since 2001)
  • Biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems: status, trends, pressures and conservation priorities (BioFresh)
    Leader of two components of this multi-partner eco-informatics project which aims to raise the policy profile of FW Biodiversity and develop a stronger evidence-base for policy responses. These are the Dissemination and Communication work package and the development of a climate vulnerability index.
  • A market-led response to domestic bird trade in Indonesia
    In collaboration with Dr Richard Ladle; Fahrul Amama, Burung Indonesia; Made Prana, Indonesian Bird Association; Sujatnika, Aksenta, and Farquhar Stirling, Nielsen Indonesia; Financial support from Darwin Initiative; (2005-2008).
  • Improving the performance of social organizations: the strategic management of legitimating assets
    In collaboration with Dr Alex Nicholls and Alec Jacobs, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School; Financial support from University RDC; (2006-2007).
  • Independent conservation audit of Asian elephant conservation
    In collaboration with Dr Susan Canney, Dept. of Zoology, Oxford; Financial support from Elephant Family; (2002-2003).

Teaching

MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy
  • Governance, Policy and Politics
MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management
  • Conservation Governance
  • Strategic Conservation Planning
All MScs
  • Governing Protected Areas
  • Oxford Environment Innovation and Development Forum
  • Policy Dialogue Seminars
  • Policy Workshops

Selected Publications

If you lack access to journals and would like to read any of the articles below please contact Paul for a reprint.

Books
Articles
Articles in Edited Collections
  • Jepson, P., Whittaker, R.J. and Lourie, S. (2011) Global Protected Area Planning Frameworks. Chapter 5 in, Ladle, R. and Whittaker, R.J. (eds.) Conservation Biogeography, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  • Ladle, R.J., Jepson, P. and Gillison, L. (2011) Social values and conservation biogeography. Chapter 2 in, Ladle, R. and Whittaker, R.J. (eds.) Conservation Biogeography, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  • Jepson, P. (2010) Towards an Indonesian bird conservation ethos: Reflections from a study of bird-keeping in the cities of Java and Bali. Chapter 21 in, Tidemann, S. and Gosler, A. (eds.) Ethno-ornithology: Birds, indigenous peoples, culture and society. London: Earthscan, pp. 313-330, ISBN: 978-1-84407-783-0.
  • Barua, M. and Jepson, P. (2010) The bull of the bog: Bittern conservation practice in a western bio-cultural setting. Chapter 20 in, Tidemann, S. and Gosler, A. (eds.) Ethno-ornithology: Birds, indigenous peoples, culture and society. London: Earthscan, pp. 301-312, ISBN: 978-1-84407-783-0.
  • Jepson, P. (2002) The need for a better understanding of context when applying CITES regulations: the case of the Tanimbar corella. In, S. Oldfield (ed.) The Trade in Wildlife: Regulation for Conservation. Earthscan, London.
Selected Reports and Popular Articles