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Dr Blake Morton

Biography Formally trained in zoology and psychology, Dr Morton is an early-career lecturer specialising in animal psychology. He publishes in world-leading journals for animal behaviour and cognition, and his work garners major global media attention, including the BBC, The Guardian, TIME, and National Geographic. He has obtained over £530,000 in grants as a P.I. and co-investigator, including NERC and the prestigious Newton Fund, 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 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 2 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 adaptability in animals, which is important for understanding the past, present, and future of species in an ever-changing world.

For further information about Dr Morton, visit: https://www.blakemorton.co.uk/

For further information about The British Carnivore Project, visit: https://www.blakemorton.co.uk/case-studies/
Research Interests animal behaviour, animal cognition, animal personality, behavioural ecology, comparative psychology, conservation biology
Teaching and Learning Dr Morton has a postgraduate certificate in higher education practice and over twelve years of experience teaching university students, five of which have been as a full-time lecturer. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was awarded an Honorary Lectureship at the University of Stirling in 2018. Over the years, he has written, developed, and managed modules on a range of topics related to animal behaviour and psychology. At the University of Hull, he oversees the BSc Psychology research dissertation programme. His other current modules include 'The Ageing Brain' and 'Brain & Behaviour 2'. Dr Morton has a passion for teaching and routinely incorporates his own research experiences with wild primates, cetaceans, and carnivores into his lectures to help students engage with theoretical material on a deeper and more applied level.
Scopus Author ID 55579624000