Thomas Welsh
Teaching, Learning and Scholarship Lead
Tom's industry experience is predominantly in zoo animal training, where he trained marine mammals for 9 years before moving into academia.
Tom sits on the EDAI working group of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is the co-chair of the student development committee of the European Association of Aquatic Mammals.
He is the module leader for the Human-Zoo Animal Interactions module and is currently completing a PhD at Nottingham Trent University, focusing on zoo animal-visitor interactions and the impact on human wellbeing and animal welfare. Tom supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate animal science students in the field of human-animal interactions and zoo animal welfare.
Research Interests:
- Human-animal interactions
- Zoo animal welfare
- Conservation Education
Citations and Public Presentations:
Welsh, T. and Simon, O. (2022). Do undergraduate students exhibit taxonomic bias? BIAZA Annual Research Conference, Zoological Society of London. Welsh, T., Brando, S., Hosey, G. & Ward, S. J. (2022).
Members of the pod: Do marine mammal trainers perceive a bond with the animals they care for? Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg3030031 Welsh, T., & Ward, S. (2021).
Visitor attachment to dolphins during an interaction programme, are there implications to dolphin behaviour? Zoo Biology, 1– 12. https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.21634 Welsh, T., & Ward, S. J. (2019).
Implications of human-animal interactions on mother-calf interactions in a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) dyad. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 7(4), 162–169. https://doi.org/10.19227/jzar.v7i4.412