Overview
I have recently completed an ESRC PhD at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, where my work focused on legal-lay communication in domestic abuse policing. My thesis drew 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 Hons in English in 2007 and an MA with distinction in Linguistics in 2008. After a hiatus from academia, during which I worked abroad in various countries and industries, I graduated from Aston University in 2017 with an MSc with distinction in Forensic Linguistics. I'm looking forward to celebrating with my Cardiff colleagues at graduation next summer.
I'm now a Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at UWE Bristol.
Research
Research interests
Forensic and legal linguistics; institutional discourse; power and vulnerability; interactional space; conversation analysis; bodycam research.
My thesis combined 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 was funded by the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership.
Thesis
Positioning and power in police-victim interactions during first response call-outs at the scene of reported domestic abuse incidents
Funding source
ESRC Wales DTP
Supervisors
Dr Michelle Aldridge-Waddon
Deputy Head of School and Head of Subject, Associate Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
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.
- Steel, C. M. R. 2022. Positioning and power in police-victim interactions
during first response call-outs at the scene of
reported domestic abuse incidents. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.