Dr Blake Morton

Qualifications

• BSc
• PGCert
• PhD (University of Stirling)

Summary

Formally trained in zoology and psychology, Dr Morton is an early-career lecturer with more than 20 years of experience studying the cognition and behaviour of mammals. He publishes in world-leading journals for animal behaviour and his work garners major global media attention, including the BBC, The Guardian, TIME, and National Geographic. He has obtained over £500,000 in grants as a P.I. and co-investigator and was awarded a ‘Research Excellence Award’ from the University of Hull in 2022. He is the founder and co-director of the recently established Hull Animal Behaviour Centre, which is comprised of 6 research programmes involving >600 stakeholders (including researchers, students, and citizen scientists) from over 7 countries. He is the early career representative for his department’s research committee and is presently supervising 3 PhD students and 2 MSc students. Since 2018, he has been studying the behaviour and problem-solving abilities of wild carnivores, including raccoons in the United States, and foxes and badgers in the United Kingdom. The primary goal of his research is to understand what factors drive behavioural and psychological adaptability in animals, which is important for understanding the past, present, and future of species in an ever-changing world.