London University Centre for Protected Area Research (CEPAR) was established at Birkbeck in 1998 to integrate a range of research, consultancy and training activities in protected area policy and management.

CEPAR is a constituent research centre of the joint Birkbeck/UCL Bloomsbury Institute of the Natural Environment (BINE). It enjoys strong links with other academic institutions within the University of London, with UK statutory countryside and conservation organisations (such as the Countryside Agency and English Nature) and with non-governmental organisations (including the National Trust).

CEPAR has strong links within European and international bodies, including the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the Federation of Nature and National Parks of Europe (EUROPARC). Elements of the postgraduate training programme are offered jointly with the University of Ljubljana.

The central mission of CEPAR is to examine how sustainability can be delivered in protected areas in the wider Europe (east and west). Through the Centre's links with Lubljana, we have developed considerable expertise in natural and cultural heritage protection in central and south-eastern Europe.

CEPAR's core staff specialise in management planning, sustainable tourism, education and interpretation, environmental policy and politics, agri-environmental policy, and sustainable rural development, with particular reference to the operation of European protected areas.

CEPAR also draws on a wide multi-disciplinary range of associate staff whose skills and expertise have been harnessed in a variety of research, consultancy and training activities.