Dr. Kirsty Mcdougall

Associate Professor

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Biography

Kirsty McDougall is an Associate Professor specializing in Phonetics within the Department of Theoretical Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. She is a fellow at Selwyn College and is recognized for her expertise in speaker characteristics and forensic phonetics. Her research highlights the dynamic features of speech, particularly focusing on formant frequencies that characterize the differences among speakers. Dr. McDougall is engaged in sociophonetic variation studies, particularly exploring consonant realization in Australian English. She is currently the Principal Investigator of the ESRC-funded project IVIP ('Improving Voice Identification Procedures'), an interdisciplinary initiative that combines insights from linguistics, psychology, criminology, and law to enhance the understanding of earwitness behavior and its implications for the criminal justice system. Additionally, she has collaborated with Martin Duckworth to develop the TOFFA methodology for analyzing fluency behavior in forensic contexts.

Research Interests

Requirements for University of Cambridge

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.7
IELTS
Listening
Required:7
Reading
Required:7
Writing
Required:7
Speaking
Required:7
Overall
Required:7.5
TOEFL
Listening
Required:25
Reading
Required:25
Writing
Required:25
Speaking
Required:25
Total
Required:110
Prerequisites
UK Bachelor's Degree with good Upper Second Class Honours or international equivalent Background in international relations, politics, law, economics, security or history is a definite asset
Application Checklist
  • Two academic references
  • Official transcripts
  • CV/Resume
  • Personal statement (approx 500 words)
  • Research proposal (1-2 pages/500 words)
  • Application fee (£50)
Specialization Notes

Standard postgraduate requirements for Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and related humanities departments.