Centre for Forensic Linguistics (CFL)

  • United Kingdom

Organization profile

Organisation profile

The Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics is the first of its type in the world. It combines leading-edge research and investigative forensic practice with postgraduate teaching and professional courses.

Research at the Institute involves all aspects of forensic linguistics from how the police and the courts can best work with interpreters to the development and refinement of methods for identifying the writer of disputed forensic texts. Members have published widely and lectured about their research in some 30 countries. Their high-quality research ensures that both postgraduate and professional courses and their investigative work have a solid academic foundation.

FLAIR - Forensic Linguistics Advice, Investigation & Research is the consultancy arm of the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics. Bringing together experienced practitioners with experience of hundreds of cases, FLAIR offers high-quality expertise, from analysis and report writing, to the delivery of expert opinions in court. Recent casework has included analyses of mobile telephone text messages, forged suicide notes and terrorist conspiracy documents. FLAIR applies quality assurance procedures that are unavailable to lone practitioners and offers a clearing house service to investigators and potential clients looking for an expert.

The Institute offers high quality training in all aspects of forensic linguistics to a variety of professional groups including police officers, lawyers and judges. The International Summer School in Forensic Linguistic Analysis is a week-long introduction to forensic linguistics for professionals and academics and the Institute also offers tightly focussed one-day courses in Interviewing with an Interpreter, Linguistic Issues in the Courtroom, and Forensic Textual Analysis.

The MSc in Forensic Linguistics is as a distance-learning, credit-accumulation, programme, which draws on Aston University's substantial expertise developed over 25 years in delivery of distance courses. Students based anywhere in the world can study and accumulate credits from individual modules and/or short courses to gain the postgraduate qualification that suits them. Short courses such as the above-mentioned International Summer School can be taken as credit-bearing modules and so contribute towards a Postgraduate qualification.

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Profiles

Photo of Sarah Atkins

Sarah Atkins

Person: Research, Academic

20072020
Photo of Lucia Busso

Lucia Busso

Person: Research

20162019
Photo of Emily Chiang

Emily Chiang

Person: Research

20172019

Research Output

Language and Online Identities The Undercover Policing of Internet Sexual Crime.

Grant, T. D. & MacLeod, N., Mar 2020, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 218 p.

Research output: Book/Report › Book

    • Learning to manage rapport in GP trainee encounters: A discursive politeness approach

    Harrington, L., Emerson, T., Mullany, L., Atkins, S., Churchill, D., Winter, R. & Patel, R., 2020, (Accepted/In press) Politeness in Professional Contexts. Amsterdam: John Benjamins

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)

    Pragmatics: Leadership and team communication in emergency medicine training.

    Atkins, S. & Chalupnik, M., 2020, (Accepted/In press) In Brookes, G. and Hunt, D., eds., Analysing Health Communication: Discourse Approaches. Palgrave Macmillan

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

    Student theses

    Bilingual practices in Ghanaian primary schools: implications for curriculum design and educational practice

    Author: Yevudey, E., 13 May 2017

    Supervisor: Reershemius, G. K. (Supervisor) & Grieve, J. W. (Supervisor)

    Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

    File

    Linguistic identifiers of L1 Persian speakers writing in English: NLID for authorship analysis

    Author: Perkins, R., 9 Jan 2014

    Supervisor: Grant, T. D. (Supervisor)

    Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

    File

    Police interviews with women reporting rape: a critical discourse analysis

    Author: MacLeod, N. J., May 2010

    Supervisor: Marley, C. N. (Supervisor)

    Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

    File

    Prizes

    Lifetime Achievement Award, Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics

    Kate Haworth (Recipient), Sep 2019

    Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)

    • Poster Prize, Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018 Annual Conference

    Sarah Atkins (Recipient), Oct 2018

    Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)

    • Knowledge Exchange and Impact Award

    Sarah Atkins (Recipient), May 2016

    Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)

    Activities

    'Everybody does things differently!' Evidential consistency and the production of official police interview records

    Kate Haworth (Keynote speaker)
    5 Sep 2019

    Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk

    Applying linguistics in practice: Language and communication training for police interviewers

    Kate Haworth (Invited speaker)
    30 Aug 2019

    Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk

    14th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists

    Krzysztof Kredens (Participant)
    1 Jul 2019 → 5 Jul 2019

    Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference

    Press / Media

    1641 Rebellion massacre reports based on hearsay, study shows

    Nicci MacLeod

    18/02/11

    1 item of Media coverage

    Press/Media: Research