Will Hoppitt took a BA (Hons) in Biological Sciences at Oxford Unversity, followed by an MSc in Integrative Biosciences. After that, he did a PhD in Zoology at Cambridge University under the supversion of Kevin Lala, specializing in social learning in animals.

Will then did 6 years as a postdoc in Kevin Lala's research group at St Andrews University (2006-2012), also taking a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University. In 2012 he then became a Senior Lecturer in Zoology at Anglia Ruskin University before becoming a lecturer in Zoology at Leeds University in 2015. From 2018-2024 Will worked as a freelance statistical consultant, providing his services to academics.

In 2024 Will became a Lecturer in Zoology at Cumbria University before becoming a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for the BSc (Hons) Zoology in 2025.

Dr Will Hoppitt is a lecturer in zoology at the University of Cumbria in Carlisle, UK. A large part of his work concerns developing and applying statistical methods for studying social learning in freely interacting groups of animals and in the field. In particular, Will has played a major role in developing and extending network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA). He has applied NBDA to study social learning in a range of animals including insects, birds, fish, cetaceans and primates.

Will Hoppitt is Programme Leader for the BSc (Hons) Zoology and module leader for Animal Form and Function, Animal Behaviour, Exploring Research, Behavioural Ecology and Behavioural Applications for Conservation.

Will teaches on a wide range of topics across Zoology but specialises in animal behaviour and statistical modelling. He teaches the latter on the Zoology programme, but also for Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry and Criminology and Forensic Science.