About Nikki Morrison
For 25 years, I have worked across animal welfare, behaviour, and implementation, from hands-on animal care through leadership and international consultancy. That breadth has given me a view of both day-to-day welfare delivery and the organisational decisions around it: how specialist knowledge connects with practice, what helps or gets in the way and what that ultimately means for the animal.
Increasingly, I also bring that experience into conversations about standards, policy and guidance, so learning can travel in both directions between what is written and what happens in practice.
A perspective shaped by practice, leadership and delivery
That experience has taken me across zoological, rescue, assistance-animal and international settings, working across a wide range of species and operational contexts. I have designed, audited and refined welfare and behaviour programmes, developed practical SOPs, led busy operational teams and helped take animal-care facilities and projects from concept and construction-stage decisions through launch, operation and refinement.
Much of my work has involved turning good intentions into workable systems: from welfare-first facility design and redesign, cooperative care and enrichment assessment to responding to changing standards and practical improvement work in live operational settings.
More recently, this has expanded into parliamentary, policy and standards-facing focus areas, including implementation analysis on the 2027 Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain shared with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW), covering implementation, inspection consistency, local authority capacity, evidence expectations and the practical conditions needed for stronger standards to deliver real welfare improvement. I also contribute to sector-facing animal welfare writing, including published work for Wild Welfare.
Ski Dubai Penguin Team, one-year anniversary, 2013.
Across the board, one pattern has become clear:
Welfare rarely falls short because people stop caring. More often, it falls short when the systems around them make consistent welfare delivery difficult.
How this work is experienced by others
“Nikki brings practical experience, professional commitment and a clear understanding of how animal welfare, behaviour and team development need to work together in real animal-care settings.”
Graeme Dick
Former Director of Zoo Operations | Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
“Nikki is a knowledgeable and supportive leader who brings out the best in her teams through encouragement, collaboration and a genuine passion for improving standards of care.”
Erin McArthur
Puppy Development Advisor | Guide Dogs UK
Why formalise the science now?
Alongside my practical track record, I am now studying for a BSc (Hons) in Animal Welfare Science at Scotland’s Rural University College (SRUC), a specialist degree taught by researchers working in one of the largest groupings of animal behaviour and welfare scientists in the world.
For me, this is not a change of direction. It deepens the applied work I have done throughout my career by strengthening my understanding of research questions, evidence, ethics, and interpretation while keeping me close to current welfare science. That matters because good recommendations need more than experience alone: they need to be evidence-informed, practically usable and honest about what is known, what is still emerging and what the evidence can support in real-world settings.
Recognition
My work has been recognised internationally, including second place in both the Education & Conservation and People's Choice awards through the International Marine Animal Trainers' Association (IMATA), and a nomination for Animal Charity Employee of the Year. I have also presented at EAAM, IMATA, ABMA and BIAZA events, co-chaired the carnivore subgroup of BIAZA's Mammal Working Group and contributed to animal welfare, behaviour and education work featured across regional, national and international media.