Research

Our People

Institute Members

Dr Sarah Atkins  Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics  Email: s.atkins@aston.ac.uk	Fiona Kelcher Teaching Fellow  Email: kelcherf@aston.ac.uk
Dr Nabanita Basu Research Associate in Forensic Data Science,  Email: n.basu@aston.ac.uk	Dr Andrea Mojedano Batel Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: a.mojedanobatel@aston.ac.uk
Dr Lucia Busso  Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics  Email: l.busso@aston.ac.uk	Dr Ralph Morton Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: r.morton2@aston.ac.uk
Dr Emily Chiang  Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: e.chiang2@aston.ac.uk	Dr Helen Newsome Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: h.newsome@aston.ac.uk
Prof Malcom Coulthard Chair of Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics Advisory Board Email: r.m.coulthard@aston.ac.uk	Dr Geoffrey Stewart Morrison Director of the Forensic Speech Science Laboratory Email: g.s.morrison@aston.ac.uk
Dr Felicity Deamer Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics Email: f.deamer@aston.ac.uk	Dr Nicci MacLeod Senior Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics Email: n.macleod5@aston.ac.uk
Prof Lauren Devine Director of the Centre for Language and Law Email: l.devine@aston.ac.uk	Dr Márton Petykó Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: m.petyko@aston.ac.uk
Prof Tim Grant Director of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics Email: t.d.grant@aston.ac.uk	Dr Stefanie Kreibich  Operations Manager  Email: s.kreibich@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 Annina Heini Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: a.heini14@aston.ac.uk	Dr James Tompkinson Research Fellow in Forensic Linguistics Email: j.tompkinson@aston.ac.uk
Dr Krzysztof Kredens Director of the Centre for Forensic Text Analysis Email: k.j.kredens@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
Dr Isabel Picornell Director, QED Forensic Linguistics Ltd Email: isabel@qedforensics.com FTA, SILC	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
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	Didier Meuwly Professor, University of Twente Email: d.meuwly@utwente.nl Adviser to FDSL
Janet Ainsworth John D. Eshelman Professor of Law Emerita, Seattle University Email: jan@seattleu.edu Adviser for CLL

 

PhD Research Students

Holly Anderson Research Student Email: andersh1@aston.ac.uk	Lisa Rogers Research Student Email: rogersl1@aston.ac.uk
Amy Booth Research Student Email: 190115661@aston.ac.uk	Natascha Rohde Research Student Email: 180176838@aston.ac.uk
Juliane Ford Research Student Email: fordj1@aston.ac.uk	Daniela Schneevogt Research Student Email: schneevd@aston.ac.uk
Liubov Green Research Student Email: greenl6@aston.ac.uk	Madison Hunter  Research Student Email: 190185697@aston.ac.uk
Fiona Kelcher Research Student Email: kelcherf@aston.ac.uk	Neus Alberich Research Student Email: 190184416@aston.ac.uk
Andrew Patrick Reczek Research Student Email: reczeka@aston.ac.uk

 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.

You may also be interested in: 

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

Please find information on our next CPD training days here and book a space via the Aston online shop. 

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.