Overview
I am an ESRC PhD student in the Centre for Language and Communication Research, working on legal-lay communication in domestic abuse policing. I'm currently writing up my thesis, which draws from body-worn video footage to examine police-victim interactions during first response call-outs to domestic incidents within the England & Wales jurisdiction.
I graduated from Queen’s University Belfast with a BA Honours in English in 2007 and an MA with distinction in Linguistics in 2008. After a hiatus from academia, during which I worked abroad in a variety of countries and industries, I graduated from Aston University in 2017 with an MSc with distinction in Forensic Linguistics.
Research
Research interests
Institutional and professional discourse; forensic and legal linguistics; language and power.
My thesis combines tools from Critical Discourse Analysis and Conversation Analysis to examine interactions between police officers and victims during first response domestic abuse call-outs. The study is funded by the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership.
Teaching
2021-22: I am currently an Associate Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at the University of the West of England (UWE), teaching four undergraduate linguistics modules this year.
2020: Achieved Associate Fellow status (AFHEA)
2018-19: Postgraduate Tutor in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy at Cardiff University, teaching seminars on two undergraduate linguistics modules.
2010-12: Lecturer and Seminar Instructor in the Department of English and Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University, Manila, teaching three undergraduate linguistics modules.
Conferences
September 2021: 'The role of metaphor in police-victim interactions during first response domestic abuse call-outs' (with Michelle Aldridge-Waddon). IAFL 2021 (International Association of Forensic Linguists), Aston University.
July 2019: 'Negotiating the institutional, professional and relational dimensions of police-victim interaction during domestic abuse call-outs'. IAFL 2019 (International Association of Forensic Linguists), RMIT, Melbourne.
September 2018: 'Police 'use' of rapport in practice during domestic abuse call-out interactions'. ALAPP 2018 (Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice), Cardiff University.
June 2018: 'Rapport management in police-victim interaction during domestic abuse call-outs'. Centre for Language and Communication Research (CLCR) PGR Conference 2018, Cardiff University.
June 2018: Organising committee member. CLCR PGR Conference 2018, Cardiff University.
October 2011: Steering committee member and conference host. Globalization and Localization in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (GLoCALL) 2011, De La Salle University Manila.
Supervisors
Publications
2022
- Aldridge, M. and Steel, K. 2022. The role of metaphor in police first response call-outs in cases of suspected domestic abuse. In: Šeškauskienė, I. ed. Metaphor in Legal Discourse. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 224-241.