Speech Physics Group

The Speech Physics Group aims to uncover the dynamical laws that govern the control of speech.

We approach this through a combination of vocal tract imaging, acoustic analysis, machine learning, and dynamical systems theory. The group is part of the Phonetics Laboratory at Lancaster University and is affiliated with the Data Science and AI Institute.

Members

• Group leader: Sam Kirkham

• Postdoctoral researcher: Vishal Kumar

• Research associate: Lois Fairclough

• Technician: Andrea Siem

• PhD student: David Wheatley (from October 2026)

• PhD student: Seren Parkman

• PhD student: Sarah Wang

Open positions

• Student assistants: We occasionally hire paid student research assistants with skills in data quality assessment, CAD modelling, fabrication, etc. Please get in touch if you think you could make a contribution to our research programme.
• PhD students: For PhD positions, we welcome enquiries from prospective students with backgrounds in linguistics, engineering, physics, robotics, or computer science. Please see the Phonetics Lab webpage for more information on applying.

Recent positions (now closed)

• PhD position: PhD project on ‘Decoding Ruminative Inner Speech with Multimodal Brain-and-Articulatory Machine Learning’ funded by EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award (co-supervisors Bo Yao & Hossein Rahmani). Apply here. Deadline: 30 June 2026.
• Staff positions: Senior Research Associate in Machine Learning for Speech Processing (18 months, full-time). Deadline: 10 April 2026.

Funding

• 2026-2030: EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award (PI: Bo Yao; Co-I: Sam Kirkham, Hossein Rahmani)
• 2025–27: The Royal Society APEX (PI: Sam Kirkham, Co-Is: Anton Ragni, Aneta Stefanovska)
• 2024-25: AHRC Research, Development & Engagement Fellowship. (PI: Sam Kirkham)