Jo Close

Dr Jo Close is a Senior Lecturer in English Language at the School for the Creative Industries, University of Chester. She has held leadership roles including Programme Leader for BA (Hons) English Language (since 2012) and Deputy Head of English (2016-2023), while serving as Assessment Officer since 2014 and chairing academic conduct panels.

• BA (Hons), English Language and Linguistics, University of York
• PhD, Linguistics, University of York
• PGCertLTHE, University of Chester
• SFHEA, Advance HE (2019)

Her research focuses on grammatical variation in English dialects, auxiliary systems, corpus linguistics, and language change. She leads the Talking Chester project analyzing regional dialects with Dr Helen West and collaborates with Dr Matt Davies for the 10th Northern Englishes Workshop (2024).

Recent research outputs (2023-2024) include work on dialect variation, sociolinguistic methodologies, and corpus-based analyses of grammatical shifts. Earlier works (2010-2013) examine modal system evolution in British English.

• SFHEA (Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy), Advance HE (2019)

She co-organizes academic events like the Northern Englishes Workshop and Current and New Methods in Sociolinguistics (CANMIS). Her professional roles span teaching, research, and institutional governance.