Research

Continuous Professional Development

We are organised in the following centres

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 Lucia Busso  Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics  Email: l.busso@aston.ac.uk	Dr Andrea Mojedano Batel Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: a.mojedanobatel@aston.ac.uk
Dr Emily Chiang  Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: e.chiang2@aston.ac.uk	Dr Ralph Morton Research Associate in Forensic Linguistics Email: r.morton2@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	Deborah Leary, OBE CEO and founder of Forensic Pathways Adviser to AIFL
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

 

PhD Research Students

Neus Alberich Buera Research Student Email: 190184416@aston.ac.uk	Madison Hunter  Research Student Email: 190185697@aston.ac.uk
Amy Booth Research Student Email: 190115661@aston.ac.uk	Madeleine Palmer Research Student Email: 220350251@aston.ac.uk
Lily Calloway Research Student Email: 220337506@aston.ac.uk	Andrew Patrick Reczek Research Student Email: reczeka@aston.ac.uk
Melanie Clinton Research Student Email: 220288426@aston.ac.uk	Jordan Robertson Research Student Email: 200203975@aston.ac.uk
Julija Danu Research Student Email: 220295479@aston.ac.uk	Lisa Rogers Research Student Email: rogersl1@aston.ac.uk
Juliane Ford Research Student Email: fordj1@aston.ac.uk	Natascha Rohde Research Student Email: 180176838@aston.ac.uk
Liubov Green Research Student Email: greenl6@aston.ac.uk	Daniela Schneevogt Research Student Email: schneevd@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.

Funded PhD Studentships

The Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL) is inviting applications for up to three fully-funded PhD scholarships commencing in September 2023 and tenable for three years.

We have opportunities to research a PhD in any area of forensic linguistic/language and law at Aston.  Only established staff can supervise PhDs, which within AIFL comprises Prof Tim Grant, Prof Lauren Devine, Dr Krzysztof Kredens, Dr Geoffrey Stewart Morrison, Dr Tamineh Tayebi, Dr Kate Haworth, Dr Stephen Parker, 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 the open PhD application 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.

You may also be interested in: 

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.