uri icon

Positions

  • Contact Info
  • 252-737-1374
Publications in VIVO

Jeffrey C Skibins

overview

  • My research focuses on three overarching issues of human dimensions of wildlife conservation.
    1) How can parks, protected areas, zoos, and aquariums increase public participation in wildlife conservation?
    2) How do we improve wildlife conservation outcomes from ecotourism?
    3) How does interpretation influence wildlife conservation?
    I use conservation and environmental psychology theories to investigate how visitors' emotions, attitudes, and on-site experiences can be measured to predict pro-conservation behaviors. My research methods use multivariate statistics to develop population-level models. Projects are designed to provide managers strategies to enhance wildlife conservation, interpretation and exhibit design, public campaigns, and visitor experiences.

selected publications

presentations

principal investigator on

professional service activities

  • Woodland Park Zoo - Advisory Board Advisory board for developing behavior change in zoo visitors 2024
  • Empathy Consortium Committee member for international zoo consortium 2022
  • Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism Associate Editor 2022
  • Journal of Leisure Research Associate editor for Journal of Leisure Research 2018 - 2022
  • Senior Associate Editor - Journal Leisure Research senior associate editor 2021
  • The Empathy Project The purpose of this project is to advance the ability of AZA institutions in the MACP region to foster empathy for animals through the planning and pilot phase of a training, mentoring and sub-granting program; refinement and dissemination of related assessment instruments; and related audience research regarding empathy for animals at AZA institutions. 2018 - 2021
  • AZA SAFE - Tree Kangaroo Awareness Committee Comittee member 2020
  • AZA SAFE - Tree Kangaroo Conservation Commerce Committee Committee member 2020
  • Sustainability Guest editor for special edition focusing on wildlife tourism and pro-conservation behaviors 2020
  • Connection to Nature Purpose: To advance the research and practice of connecting people to nature by enabling researchers and practitioners to better understand, identify, and use appropriate assessment, evaluation, and research-related measures of connectedness to nature. 2018 - 2020
  • Science Meeting for Visitor Use Management Research Purpose: The purpose of this event is to gather approximately 25 members of the U.S. science and research community engaged in visitor use management research to discuss unresolved issues, current approaches, and innovations. Facilitated discussions and collaborative sessions will aim to generate creative and novel solutions to long-standing issues while leveraging existing and new data sources. Although other events and conferences related to visitor use management research exist, the field lacks a dedicated meeting for a small group of researchers to engage in substantive and meaningful discussions without distractions.
    Outcome: Proposals, tool development, webinars, presentations, new collaborations, and articles focused on new approaches and unresolved issues in visitor use management research. 2018 - 2019
  • Journal of Interpretation Research Associate Editor 2019
  • Society and Natural Resources manuscript review 2018