Projects per year
Personal profile
SUMMARY of research interests (100 words)
I am senior lecturer in the Phonetics Lab, Department of Linguistics and English Language and Data Science Institute at Lancaster University. I am also associate editor at Journal of Phonetics. I was awarded my PhD in 2014 from the University of Sheffield.
My research investigates the dynamics of spoken language, such as how people coordinate movements of the tongue, lips and larynx to produce speech. I do experiments that monitor acoustic signals and vocal tract movements using sensors and imaging technology, and build computational models of the cognitive and physical mechanisms that underpin spoken language. I apply these insights to a range of longstanding scientific puzzles, such as the control of speech production, the mysteries of sound change, and how to improve the use of speech technologies in everyday life. In doing so, I draw upon theory and methods from linguistics, cognitive science, physics, and computer science.
I am currently working on the following projects:
- Interpretable acoustic-articulatory relations in speech production (Royal Society, 2025-27)
- Modelling the dynamics of phonetic variation & phonological change (AHRC fellowship, 2024-25)
- TARDIS: Targets and dynamics in speech (AHRC, 2019-23)
You can find my personal webpage here, which contains more information.
Current Teaching
I am not teaching during the 2025/26 and 2026/27 academic years due to research grant commitments.
Related documents
Keywords
- English Language and Linguistics
User-defined keywords
- phonetics
- speech production
- articulatory phonology
- speech
- dynamical systems
- articulation
- acoustics
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Interpretable acoustic-articulatory relations in speech production
Stefanovska, A. (Co-Investigator) & Kirkham, S. (Principal Investigator)
1/10/25 → 30/09/27
Project: Research
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Modelling the dynamics of phonetic variation and phonological change
Kirkham, S. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/24 → 30/12/25
Project: Research
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Lancashire Tongues
Nance, C. (Principal Investigator), Kirkham, S. (Co-Investigator), Turton, D. (Co-Investigator), Nagamine, T. (Co-Investigator), Fairclough, L. (Co-Investigator), Dewhurst, M. (Co-Investigator), Wang, D. (Co-Investigator) & Forster, P. (Principal Investigator)
1/10/22 → …
Project: Research
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Targets and Dynamics in Speech - TARDIS
Kirkham, S. (Principal Investigator)
1/09/19 → 31/08/22
Project: Research
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Intonational variation in North West England
Kirkham, S. (Principal Investigator), Nance, C. (Principal Investigator), Groarke, E. (Researcher) & Littlewood, B. (Researcher)
1/07/14 → 30/04/16
Project: Other
Research output
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Articulatory strategies in male and female vowel production
Strycharczuk, P. & Kirkham, S., 24/10/2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 21 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile7 Downloads (Pure) -
Articulatory strategy in vowel production as a basis for speaker discrimination
Lo, J. J. H., Strycharczuk, P. & Kirkham, S., 18/08/2025, Proceedings of Interspeech 2025. Rotterdam: International Speech Communication Association, p. 3504-3508 5 p. (Interspeech 2025).Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review
Open AccessFile45 Downloads (Pure) -
Dimensionality reduction in lingual articulation of vowels: Evidence from lax vowels in Northern Anglo-English
Strycharczuk, P., Kirkham, S., Gorman, E. & Nagamine, T., 1/09/2025, In: Language and Speech. 68, 3, p. 689-721 33 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile122 Downloads (Pure) -
Discovering dynamical laws for speech gestures
Kirkham, S., 2/05/2025, In: Cognitive Science. 49, 5, p. 1-40 40 p., e70064.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile105 Downloads (Pure) -
Dynamical model parameters from ultrasound tongue kinematics
Kirkham, S. & Strycharczuk, P., 30/11/2025, In: JASA Express Letters. 5, 11, 8 p., 115201.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
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UK Language Variation and Change 15
Nance, C. (Organiser), Lo, J. (Organiser), Palfreyman, N. (Organiser), Turton, D. (Organiser) & Kirkham, S. (Organiser)
2/09/2025 → 4/09/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference - Academic
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Advances in dynamical models of speech: Frontiers and applications
Kirkham, S. (Speaker)
18/08/2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Discovering dynamical laws: Explorations in simplicity
Kirkham, S. (Speaker)
26/07/2025 → 27/07/2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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DYMOS
Kirkham, S. (Organiser)
26/07/2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Symposium
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Discovering dynamical models of articulatory control from data
Kirkham, S. (Speaker)
21/04/2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Press/Media
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State-of-the-art research equipment for the Lancaster Linguistics Research Lab
27/02/13
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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