Dr Tim Grant

Head of English

Deputy Director, Centre for Forensic Linguistics

Senior Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics

Room: MB 737
Phone: 0121 204 3799
Fax: 0121 204 3766
Email: t.d.grant@aston.ac.uk

Qualifications

• BA in Philosophy (Birmingham)
• MSc in Cognitive Science (Birmingham)
• PhD in English Linguistics (Birmingham)
  “Authorship attribution in a forensic context”

Teaching

Undergraduate and Postgraduate:

• Research Methods
• Forensic Linguistics

Responsibilities

• Head of English
• Deputy Director Centre for Forensic Linguistics
• Course Convenor MSc Forensic Linguistics

Membership of Professional Bodies

• International Association of Forensic Linguists
  • Chair of the working group on Ethics and Professional Practise 
  • Member of the Abstracts Committee (IAFL 2009)
• International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG)
  • Member of Scientific Committee
• Association of Psychological Science

I am also an assessor for linguistics for the UK  Council for the Registration of Forensic Practicioners, on the NPIA Expert Advisor database and hold current UK security clearance (SC).

Research Interests

• Forensic linguistics
• Forensic psychology
• Authorship analysis
• Sexual crime
• Crime analysis and case linkage work

Publications

Selected recent publications

• Tonkin, M, Grant, T & Bond, J (2008) To link or not to link: A test of the case linkage principals using serial car theft data Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 5, 59-77.
• Grant (2008) Approaching Questions in Forensic Authorship Analysis In J. Gibbons & M.T. Turell Dimensions of Forensic Linguistics (pp. 215-231) Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Grant, T. D. (2007). Quantifying evidence for forensic authorship analysis Speech Language and the Law. The International Journal of Forensic Linguistics, 14, 1 -25.
• Grant, T. D., & Woodhams, J. (2007). Rape as social interaction. In J. Cotterill (Ed.), The language of sex crimes (pp. 5-22). Basingstoke, UK.: Palgrave.
• Sheridan, L., & Grant, T. (2007). Is cyberstalking different? Psychology Crime and Law. 13, 627 – 640.
• Woodhams, J., Grant, T.D. & Price, A.R.G. (2007) From marine ecology to crime analysis: Improving the detection of serial sexual offences using a taxonomic similarity measure. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 4, 2.
• Woodhams, J., Gillett, R., & Grant, T.D. (2007). Understanding the factors that affect the severity of juvenile stranger sex offences: The effect of victim characteristics and number of suspects. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 22, 198-218.
• Grant, T.D. (2006). Identifying the origins of evidential texts. In A. Heaton-Armstrong, E. Shepherd, G. H. Gudjonsson & D. Wolchover (Eds.), Witness Testimony Psychological, Investigative and Evidential Perspectives. (pp. 263-276) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Consultancy and Casework

My consultancy has largely involved the analysis of abusive and threatening communications in many different contexts including investigations into sexual assault, stalking, murder and terrorism.

My most significant case to date was R v Dhiren Barot [2006] Woolwich Crown Court. With colleagues I provided evidence in this major international investigation working with the UK Counter Terrorism Command. Our evidence was that Barot had written documents planning terrorist attacks on a variety of targets including the London tube network and financial centres, the New York Stock Exchange and the Citibank Headquarters in New York. Barot ultimately admitted writing the documents, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment.