The mission of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics is to improve the delivery of justice through the analysis of language.  

Our research is always Excellent.  It is often Collaborative, in terms of working with beneficiaries, research and higher education institutions and across disciplinary boundaries. It is always Impactful with a view to creating real insight within the broader justice system, often leading to change of policy and practice. Additionally, through the creation of the University Research Institute our research will become more Sustainable – we have ambitious targets to win further research funds to expand forensic linguistic capability for the UK and the international community. We aim to build a globally significant hub for forensic linguistics research.

The Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL) was founded in 2019. It is a substantial expansion of the former Aston Centre for Forensic Linguistics that was founded in 2008 and in the autumn of  2019 we appointed a total of 15 new staff to establish the Institute.  This expansion was funded via a £6M investment including a £5.4M award from Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) fund.

E-mail: forensiclinguistics@aston.ac.uk
 

We are organised into the following Centres: 

Events

The Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics hosts wide and varied events, intending to build upon a history of collaboration between academic researchers, professionals and society. Events range from weekly ‘topic-specific seminars’, through to an annual conference, with the key aim to improve the delivery of justice through the analysis of language. Our events are free and open to the public unless specified otherwise.

Publications

Find out more about our recent publications here.

Our People

Institute Members

Dr Neus Alberich Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: n.alberich@aston.ac.uk	Dr Nadia Makouar Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: n.makour@aston.ac.uk
Dr Sarah Atkins  Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics  Email: s.atkins@aston.ac.uk	Dr Andrea Mojedano Batel Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: a.mojedanobatel@aston.ac.uk
Dr Nabanita Basu Research Associate in Forensic Data Science,  Email: n.basu@aston.ac.uk	Dr Ralph Morton Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: r.morton2@aston.ac.uk
Dr Lucia Busso  Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics  Email: l.busso@aston.ac.uk	Dr Helen Newsome Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: h.newsome@aston.ac.uk
Dr Emily Chiang  Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: e.chiang2@aston.ac.uk	Dr Geoffrey Stewart Morrison Director of the Forensic Speech Science Laboratory Email: g.s.morrison@aston.ac.uk
Prof Malcom Coulthard Chair of Aston Institute of Forensic Linguistics Advisory Board	Dr Márton Petykó Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: m.petyko@aston.ac.uk
Dr Felicity Deamer Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics Email: f.deamer@aston.ac.uk	Dr Piotr Pezik Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: p.pezik@aston.ac.uk
Prof Lauren Devine Director of the Centre for Language and Law Email: l.devine@aston.ac.uk	John Pollard Operations Manager  Email: j.pollard2@aston.ac.uk
Prof Tim Grant Director of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics Email: t.d.grant@aston.ac.uk	Dr Roberto Puch-Solis     Deputy Director of the Forensic Data Science Laboratory, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Data Science Email: r.puchsolis@aston.ac.uk
Dr Leigh Harrington Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics                Email: l.harrington@aston.ac.uk	Dr Emma Richardson Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics Email: e.richardson4@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 Annie Heini Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: a.heini14@aston.ac.uk	Dr Philip Weber  Research Fellow in Forensic Data Science Email: p.weber1@aston.ac.uk
Dr Krzysztof Kredens Director of the Centre for Forensic Text Analysis Email: k.j.kredens@aston.ac.uk

Honorary and Adjunct Members

Mitchell Abrams Visiting AIFL Researcher Email: 190205803@aston.ac.uk FTA	Dr Claudia Rosas Instituto de Lingüística y Literatura, Universidad Austral de Chile FSSL
Dr Ewald Enzinger Senior Research Engineer Eduworks Corporation FSSL	Ria Perkins Email: r.perkins@aston.ac.uk FTA
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

PhD Research Students

Holly Anderson Research Student Email: andersh1@aston.ac.uk	Alice Richardson Research Student Email: 149160490@aston.ac.uk
Juliane Ford Research Student Email: fordj1@aston.ac.uk	Lisa Rogers Research Student Email: rogersl1@aston.ac.uk
Liubov Green Research Student Email: greenl6@aston.ac.uk	Natascha Rohde Research Student Email: 180176838@aston.ac.uk
Marlon Hurt Research Student Email: hurtm@aston.ac.uk	Daniela Schneevogt Research Student Email: schneevd@aston.ac.uk
Fiona Kelcher Research Student Email: kelcherf@aston.ac.uk	Madison Hunter  Research Student Email: 190185697@aston.ac.uk
Andrew Patrick Reczek Research Student Email: reczeka@aston.ac.uk

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Our teaching

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

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

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.

Continued Professional Development

Members of the Institute have substantial experience in providing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training for lawyers, law enforcement investigators, and forensic scientists. This includes open CPD events, and tailored training delivered to law enforcement agencies, government departments, and commercial organisations. Please contact us if you want training tailored to your needs.

Topics we offer training on include:

• General forensic linguistics
• Interpreter-mediated interviewing
• Linguistic investigative skills
• Online identity assumption for undercover police officers
• Forensic speech science
• Forensic inference and statistics

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.