New partnership between the University of York and The Forensic Voice Centre

Posted on 26 September 2024

The University of York and the Forensic Voice Centre are delighted to announce a new partnership to deliver casework-led teaching and supervision to students in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science.

The Forensic Voice Centre will assist the university to achieve its aim of delivering impact through ‘curiosity-driven, action-oriented research’, by offering students a practical approach to forensic casework learning.

In their new roles as Industry Associates, the three co-directors of the Forensic Voice Centre, Dr Richard Rhodes, Dr Katherine Earnshaw, and Bryony Nuttall will will share their experience of producing evidential reports and giving expert witness testimony for prosecution and defence teams across the UK and internationally, through workshops and supervision of MSc and PhD projects. They will provide input on the shape and content of the MSc in Forensic Speech Science - the world’s only postgraduate course dedicated to this field - as well as being involved in research.

Prof Paul Foulkes, Professor of Linguistics and Co-lead of the MSc in Forensic Speech Science programme: “FVC has quickly established itself as the UK’s leading forensic speech and audio lab, and we are thrilled to work more closely with them.”

Dr Vincent Hughes, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Speech Science and Co-lead of the MSc in Forensic Speech Science programme: “Forensic Speech Science is an applied field, so having collaboration between academia and industry is really essential, and students love having access to insights from experts working on casework day in and day out.”

Dr Richard Rhodes, Dr Katherine Earnshaw and Bryony Nuttall, the Forensic Voice Centre: “All three of us are alumni of the MSc in Forensic Speech Science at York, so we are delighted to be able to give back to the course that was a springboard for our careers. We recently celebrated our first company anniversary, and now feels like the right time to show our commitment to learning and development of student caseworkers, and to make research more applicable to real-world forensic scenarios. We look forward to bringing our knowledge and expertise in forensic phonetics to students and inspiring the next generation of forensic speech and audio caseworkers.”

The partnership will launch in the new academic year of 2024/25. Students participating in the MSc and PhD degree courses will receive sessions from the Forensic Voice Centre over the year.

For more information about Forensic Speech Science at the University of York, visit: https://www.york.ac.uk/language/research/forensic-speech-science/.

For more information about the Forensic Voice Centre, visit: https://www.forensicvoicecentre.com