Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics

Research

Continuous Professional Development

We are organised in the following centres

Our People

Institute Members

Dr Sarah Atkins  Lecturer in English Email: s.atkins@aston.ac.uk	Dr Fiona Kelcher Teaching Fellow  Email: kelcherf@aston.ac.uk
Dr Amy Booth Researcher in Forensic Linguistics Email@ a.booth@aston.ac.uk	Dr Krzysztof Kredens Director of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics Email: k.j.kredens@aston.ac.uk
Dr Lucia Busso  Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics  Email: l.busso@aston.ac.uk	Dr Stefanie Kreibich  Operations Manager  Email: s.kreibich@aston.ac.uk
Dr Emily Chiang  Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics Email: e.chiang2@aston.ac.uk	Dr Nicci MacLeod Deputy Director of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics Email: n.macleod5@aston.ac.uk
Prof Malcom Coulthard Chair of Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics Advisory Board Email: r.m.coulthard@aston.ac.uk	Dr Andrea Mojedano Batel Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics Email: a.mojedanobatel@aston.ac.uk
Dr Felicity Deamer Senior Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics Email: f.deamer@aston.ac.uk	Dr Geoffrey Stewart Morrison Director of the Forensic Speech Science Laboratory Email: g.s.morrison@aston.ac.uk
Prof Tim Grant Professor of Forensic Linguistics Email: t.d.grant@aston.ac.uk	Dr Ralph Morton Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics Email: r.morton2@aston.ac.uk
Dr Kate Haworth Director of the Centre for Spoken Interaction in Legal Contexts Email: k.haworth@aston.ac.uk	Dr Tahmineh Tayebi Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics Email: t.tayebi@aston.ac.uk
Dr Madison Hunter Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: m.hunter5@aston.ac.uk	Dr Philip Weber  Lecturer in Forensic Data Science Email: p.weber1@aston.ac.uk

Honorary and Adjunct Members

Mitchell Abrams Visiting AIFL Researcher Email: 190205803@aston.ac.uk FTA	John O'Shea  Legal Translation Practitioner Email: info@jurtrans.com CLL
Dr Ewald Enzinger Senior Research Engineer Eduworks Corporation FSSL	Dr Ria Perkins Email: r.perkins@aston.ac.uk FTA
Prof Lauren Devine Professor of Linguistics and Law Lancaster University	Dr Claudia Rosas Instituto de Lingüística y Literatura, Universidad Austral de Chile FSSL
Prof Yaron Matras Honorary Professor, Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, School of Social Sciences Email:y.matras@aston.ac.uk Personal website: yaronmatras.org FTA	Dr Juliette Scott Legal Translation Practitioner, Researcher & Consultant Email: juliette.scott@tiscali.co.uk CLL
Dr Isabel Picornell Director, QED Forensic Linguistics Ltd Email: isabel@qedforensics.com FTA, SILC	Prof Cuiling Zhang School of Criminal Investigation, Southwest University of Political Science and Law FSSL

Members of the AIFL Advisory Board

Malcolm Coulthard Professor Emeritus, Birmingham University Chair of the AIFL Advisory Board	Chris Heffer Reader, Cardiff University Email: HefferC2@cardiff.ac.uk Adviser for SILC
Peter Patrick Professor Emeritus, Essex University Email: patrickp@essex.ac.uk Adviser for FTA	Yaron Matras Honorary Professor, Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, School of Social Sciences Email:y.matras@aston.ac.uk Personal website: yaronmatras.org Adviser to AIFL
Janet Ainsworth John D. Eshelman Professor of Law Emerita, Seattle University Email: jan@seattleu.edu Adviser for CLL	Deborah Leary, OBE CEO and founder of Forensic Pathways Adviser to AIFL

 

PhD Research Students

Neus Alberich Buera Research Student	Eden Palmer Research Student
Lily Calloway Research Student	Raphael Ribeiro Research Student
Melanie Clinton Research Student	Jordan Robertson Research Student
Julija Danu Research Student	Lisa Rogers Research Student
Jenna Elliott Research Student	Natascha Rohde Research Student
Lauren Morgan Research Student

 Our Teaching

Master of Arts in Forensic Linguistics 

We run a one-year Master of Arts in Forensic Linguistics programme.

NEW FOR 2022: Study for the MA Forensic Linguistics entirely online. Find more details here.

Members of the Institute teach the undergraduate courses “Language and Law” and “Language as Evidence”.

Potential PhD students should in the first instance make enquiries with the Aston academic staff member with whom they are interested in working. Note that only members with the rank of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, Associate Professor, or Professor can supervise PhD students.

PhD supervision

We are currently advertising for up to two fully-funded PhD studentships for October 2024 entry. Please have a look for more details on the Aston Graduate School pages.

The Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL) has a proven track-record of supervising PhD students in the areas of forensic linguistics and language and law, and we are always keen to hear from strong candidates interested in completing a doctorate research degree under our supervision. 

Potential PhD students should in the first instance make enquiries with the Aston academic staff member with whom they are interested in working. Note that only members with the rank of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, Associate Professor, or Professor can supervise PhD students.

This includes Prof Tim Grant, Dr Krzysztof Kredens, Dr Geoffrey Stewart Morrison, Dr Tahmineh Tayebi, Dr Kate Haworth, Dr Nicci MacLeod, and Dr Felicity Deamer. Their research interests can be found on the AIFL pages of Aston Research Explorer.

For informal enquiries about PhD supervision, please contact the individual you would like to become your supervisor or, for more general enquiries, Professor Tim Grant (t.d.grant@aston.ac.uk).

Please find more information about the application process by visiting this website.

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Casework and consulting

The Institute itself does not conduct casework; however, members of the Institute conduct investigative and evidential casework in the civil and criminal courts in multiple jurisdictions around the world. Our research informs our casework activity, and our casework experience informs our research and teaching.

Members of the Institute also take part in non-casework consulting.  This includes advising commercial security organisations, lawyers, and HR departments about risks management.