David Favis-Mortlock
British scientist

David T. Favis-Mortlock is an English geomorphologist and musician.
Born David Mortlock on 27 August 1953, he grew up in Barking, Essex, UK, later moving to Basildon New Town, where he attended Barstable School. He studied environmental sciences at Lancaster University, graduating in 1975. After several years as a musician, he commenced a PhD study on soil erosion modeling at Brighton Polytechnic, under the supervision of geomorphologist John Boardman. Subsequently, he worked with Boardman at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Unit (now the Environmental Change Institute).
Publications include the first quantitative study of the impact of climate change on soil erosion by water, and a novel modelling study of soil erosion in prehistory together with archaeologist Martin Bell. In 1996 he developed a self-organising systems model for rill initiation and development, RillGrow. In 2013, together with Andres Payo (British Geological Survey), he began work on CoastalME ("Coastal Modelling Environment"), which is now being used in several projects across the UK and Europe, as a planning tool in both research and engineering contexts. He is also responsible for the Soil Erosion website. Favis-Mortlock was elected a Council Member for the British Society of Soil Science, 2001–2003, and a member of the Executive Committee of the British Geomorphological Research Group, 2003-2006.
“David Favis-Mortlock” enters the record as british scientist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what David, Favis-Mortlock and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“David Favis-Mortlock” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, David, Favis-Mortlock and British provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5233585. VIAF identifies the subject as 66646089. The Library of Congress control number is n98001961. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1975, 1996 and 2013.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “David Favis-Mortlock”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow David Favis-Mortlock primary sources, David Favis-Mortlock archive and David research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “David Favis-Mortlock”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “David Favis-Mortlock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.