It is a legal requirement for all European Zoos to carry out research. By studying our animals, we can understand how to give them the best level of care possible, and we can ensure that our animals are both physically and mentally healthy.

At Blackpool Zoo we actively encourage undergraduate and postgraduate students to carry out academic research, photography and art based projects. Our friendly and helpful keeping staff, as well as our full time research co-ordinator make Blackpool Zoo an excellent place for research and art students. As a result we attract students from all over the UK and abroad.

We currently have over 1,500 animals of more than 300 species over our 32 acre site.

Research, art and photography students can enter the zoo free of charge with the prior approval of their proposal.

Academic Research

The 2006/2007 Research Prospectus and Guidelines have been designed for students, supervisors and professional researchers alike. It is important that they are read by supervisors with students who may be interested in using the zoo and by the researcher prior to completing the application form. They contain important information, conditions of research and a list of projects the zoo would like to be completed. Download them here. Once these have been read then the research proposal form can be filled in by downloading the PDF file here and posting or e-mailing it to the zoo.

Before you complete the proposal form we strongly recommend you read the guidelines on zoo based research available from the website of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquaria www.biaza.org.uk This site contains guidelines on project planning, sampling and observational techniques, ethics and statistics. These have been written by professional zoo researchers and will help you to produce a higher quality project.

Art & Photography

Full guidelines and a proposal form are available here.

For more information please contact the Research Co-ordinator on (01253) 830805, or email: education@blackpoolzoo.org.uk.