The FORGE and the Lancaster University Phonetics Lab are delighted to announce our first joint external guest speaker of 2015: Dr Erica Gold. Erica began working at the University of Huddersfield in 2014, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Linguistics. Details of her talk are below:

TITLE
What can Bayes do for you? Using phonetic and linguistic evidence in the courtroom

ABSTRACT
The forensic sciences are currently undergoing what Saks and Koehler (2005) have suggested is a ‘paradigm shift’. That is more and more forensic scientists are adopting the likelihood ratio framework for presenting forensic evidence in the courtroom. This talk will provide a basic introduction to Bayesian statistics and likelihood ratios, with an emphasis on phonetic and linguistic evidence. The presentation will consider the current methods for presenting phonetic and linguistic evidence in the UK, and also provide empirical results from likelihood ratio research using phonetic parameters. The talk will then conclude by looking at potential avenues for development in the field.

TIME & PLACE
W05, 1600-1700, Wed 04^th Nov, Frankland Colloquium