Research Centres and Groups

The Literacy Research Centre (LLRC) at Lancaster University works to understand the role of literacy in all areas of social life and to improve communication and collaboration between researchers and educational practice. We welcome all practitioners and students concerned with literacy, including new MA and PhD students as well as other academic visitors.

Lancaster Literacy Research Centre website

CASS is a Centre designed to bring a new method in the study of language – the corpus approach – to a range of social sciences. In doing it provides an insight into the use and manipulation of language in society in a host of areas of pressing concern, including climate change, hate crime and education. By providing fresh perspectives in such problems, we are helping to develop new approaches to challenging practices such as hate speech both in terms of raising awareness and of informing policy makers and other stakeholders of how such language may be used to wound and offend.

ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS) website

UCREL specialises in the automatic or computer-aided analysis of large bodies of naturally-occurring language ('corpora') and we have a record of achievement of more than thirty years as pioneers in this field whilst remaining at the leading edge of computer corpus construction and analysis. Our work focuses on modern English, early modern English, modern foreign languages, minority, endangered, and ancient languages. We operate at the interface of corpus linguistics and natural language processing.

University Centre for Computer Corpus Research on Language (UCREL) website

The Discourse and Text Research Group (DisTex) brings together researchers interested in how meaning is made in different contexts, modes and genres of communication. Our research addresses social, historical, cognitive and interactional dimensions of meaning in text and discourse.

Discourse and Text Research Group website

FACTOR (Forensic linguistics, Cybersecurity and Technology Research) focuses on the ways that forensic linguistics and forensic speech science intersect with cybersecurity and technology. Our research includes linguistically-informed investigations, intelligence, and evidence; the challenges and opportunities afforded by technologies like generative artificial intelligence (GenAI); and how developments in these areas play out in (cyber)security and protection contexts.

FACTOR on LinkedIn

Language, Ideology and Power Group (LIP) investigate the way language and other semiotic resources are used to communicate, legitimate and instantiate social identities and relations in a variety of discursive contexts.

As such, our work falls broadly in the field of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), an approach to discourse and discourse analysis which focusses on the way social issues are constructed through text and talk.

Language, Ideology and Power Group (LIP) website

The Language Testing Research Group (LTRG) is a forum open to staff and research students interested in language testing issues. We discuss:

• current issues in language testing research,
• individual research projects,
• research students’ interests
• research worries.

Language Testing Research Group (LTRG) website

The Perception and Learning Laboratory (PERLL) is the EEG lab of the Department of Linguistics and English Language. Our facilities enable and facilitate research by staff and students into the neural basis of language and linguistically mediated perception, and psycholinguistic aspects of language learning. Lab research strengths include linguistic/cultural relativity, bilingual cognition, perceptual/statistical learning, and lexical processing/representations in bilinguals.

Perception and Learning Laboratory (PERLL) website

The Phonetics Lab research group meets regularly and our facilities are used by staff, undergraduates and postgraduates working on phonetics projects.

We do phonetic fieldwork and laboratory research across a range of languages and dialects. We specialise in the following areas:

• Phonetics, bilingualism and language contact
• Phonetics of minority languages
• Acoustic and articulatory sociophonetics
• Forensic phonetics
• Psycholinguistics

Phonetics Lab website

The Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University is one of the largest and most diverse centres for cognitive linguistics research in the UK. Our research addresses 'core' areas of cognitive linguistics, including metaphor and figurativity, construction grammar, usage-based approaches to language acquisition and change, linguistic typology, and cultural and linguistic relativity. We also have strengths in more ‘applied’ areas of cognitive linguistics, including cognitive critical discourse analysis, cognitive stylistics, cognitive sociolinguistics, and second language learning.

Cognitive Linguistics Research Group website

The Second Language Learning and Teaching Research Group (SLLAT) welcomes staff, students, and visitors interested in issues in second language learning and pedagogy.

Activities include talks, reports of research work-in-progress, the development of research projects, workshops, and occasional guest speakers. Membership of SLLAT is open to all Lancaster University staff, students and visitors.

Second Language Learning and Teaching Research Group (SLLAT)

The Culture and Communication Research Network (CULCOM) connects colleagues from across the University who are interested in any aspect of communication and culture. CULCOM is open to all Lancaster University staff, students and visiting scholars.

Culture and Communication Research Network (CULCOM)