Sam Kirkham

Dr Sam Kirkham is a Senior Lecturer in the Phonetics Lab at the Department of Linguistics and English Language and a member of the Data Science Institute at Lancaster University. He earned his PhD from the University of Sheffield in 2014 and serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Phonetics.

• PhD in Linguistics, University of Sheffield (2014)

His research explores the dynamics of spoken language through experimental and computational approaches, focusing on:

• Articulatory phonetics and vocal tract movement
• Sound change mechanisms
• Computational modeling of speech production
• Application of physics-informed machine learning

The 15 most recent articles (2025-2023) span:

• Vowel articulation and gender differences
• Dynamical systems in speech
• Nonlinear control models
• Open-source speech hardware
• Bilingual speech patterns
• Evolutionary phonetics

Scientific recognition includes:

• AHRC Fellowship (2024-25)

Supervision includes PhD students Maya Dewhurst, Lois Fairclough, Emily Gorman, and Seren Parkman. Current projects like Royal Society-funded 'Interpretable acoustic-articulatory relations' (2025-27) and AHRC-funded initiatives examine speech production dynamics and phonological evolution.