My research aims to understand structure and variability in the sound systems of human language. I am particularly interested in the relationship between synchronic variation and diachronic change, sociophonetic variation, and dynamical approaches to phonological cognition. The majority of my work investigates speech production using articulatory methods such as electromagnetic articulography, ultrasound tongue imaging, and computational modelling.

I am currently working on the following projects:

• TARDIS: Targets and dynamics in speech (with Patrycja Strycharczuk, funded by AHRC 2019-23)
• Articulatory dynamics of palatalisation contrasts in Scottish Gaelic (with Claire Nance)

I have previously done research on various related topics including phonetics of bilingualism and language contact, sociophonetic variation, and phonetic typology.

I am interested in supervising students who wish to carry out research in the following areas: phonetics, sociophonetics, articulatory phonetics, speech production, dialect variation, phonetic fieldwork. I particularly welcome projects that make use of our lab's specialist instrumentation, which includes electromagnetic articulography (EMA), high-speed ultrasound, electropalatography (EPG), electroglottography (EGG), and aerodynamics systems.

I teach on the following courses:

• LING102 English Language
• LING223 English Phonetics
• LING327 Advanced English Phonetics
• LING416 Experimental Phonetics

In 2016 I was awarded Lancaster University's Undergraduate Teaching Award, which is a university-wide prize based on student nominations and testimonials. I have also been nominated for Best Dissertation Supervisor and Best Student Advisor awards at Lancaster, as well as Postgraduate Tutor of the Year when I was a PhD student at Sheffield.