Matt's research interests lie in Corpus Linguistics, in particular the use of the web as a source of natural language data. He is also interested in search technologies, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), language change, semantics, collaborative e-Learning and software development to support research.
Funded Research Projects
2020-2021, AHRC Research and innovation ideas to address Covid-19, TRAC:COVID – TRust And Communication: a Coronavirus Online VIsual Dashboard, Co-Investigator.
2019-2022, AHRC Research Grant, The Language of DIY Justice: Communication Practices & Processes, Research Associate.
2017-2020, H2020, RED-Alert: Real-time Early Detection and Alert System for Online Terrorist Content based on Natural Language Processing, Social Network Analysis, Artificial Intelligence and Complex Event Processing, Co-Investigator.
2017-2019, British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant, Changing Landscape of Access to Justice: Linguistic and Socio-Legal Analysis of Online Forums for Litigants in Person, Research Associate.
2013-2016, Leverhulme Research Projects Grant, A bi-lingual thesaurus, Technical Lead.
2012-2013, Jisc Embedding Benefits Programme, eMargin – embedding a text annotation tool in VLEs, Research Associate.
2011-2012, Jisc Learning & Teaching Innovation Grant, eMargin – an online collaborative textual annotation resource, Research Associate.
2009-2012, AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellowship, Introducing A-Level English Language students to empirical text study using the WebCorp Linguist's Search Engine, Software Developer.
2006-2008, EPSRC, WebCorp Linguist's Search Engine, Software Developer.
Matt welcomes doctoral research proposals in Corpus Linguistics and the application of computational text analysis to other disciplines or non-academic audiences.
(forthcoming). “There was much new to grok”: an analysis of word coinage in science fiction literature. Linguistics Vanguard.
2022 with Renouf, A & Kehoe, A. A data-driven approach to finding significant changes in language use through time series analysis. In Flach, S. & Hilpert, M. (eds.) Broadening the Spectrum of Corpus Linguistics: New approaches to variability and change, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 284-317. https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.105.10keh
2022 with Tkacukova, T. Morton, R. The Journey to Comprehensibility: Court Forms as the First Barrier to Accessing Justice. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 35, 1733–1759. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-021-09870-6
2021 with Malik, S., Ryder, M., Marsden, S. & Lawson, R. ‘BAME’: A report on the use of the term and responses to it: Terminology Review for the BBC and Creative Industries. Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. https://www.bbc.co.uk/creativediversity/bame-terminology-review/
2021 with Tkacukova, T., McGlashan, M., Kehoe, A. & Lawson, R. TRAC:COVID Case Study Reports. https://traccovid.com/traccovid/reports. Submitted to House of Commons Report Initial lessons from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/6954/documents/73046/default/
2021 with Carter, P., McIlhone, H., Lally, H. & Lawson, R. Comparing manual and computational approaches to theme identification in online forums: A case study of a sex work special interest community. Methods in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metip.2021.100065
2019 with Kehoe, A. “Thanks for the donds”: A corpus linguistic analysis of topic-based communities in the comment section of The Guardia. In U. Lutzky & M. Nevala (eds.) Reference and Identity in Public Discourses, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 127-158.
2019 with Rühlemann, C & Ptak, A. Alternating gaze in multi-party storytelling. Journal of Pragmatics, Volume 149, 91-113.
2018 with Rühlemann, C. Conversation Analysis and the XML method. Gesprächsforschung [Discourse and Conversation Analysis], Volume 18.
2018 with Lutzky, L. 'I just found your blog'. The Pragmatics of initiating comments on blog posts. Journal of Pragmatics, Volume 129, 173-184.
2013 with Kehoe, A. eMargin: A Collaborative Textual Annotation Tool. Ariadne, Issue 71.
2012 with Kehoe, A. Reader comments as an aboutness indicator in online texts: introducing the Birmingham Blog Corpus. In S. Oksefjell Ebeling, J. Ebeling and H. Hasselgård (eds.) Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English Volume 12: Aspects of Corpus Linguistics: Compilation, Annotation, Analysis, University of Helsinki e-journal.
2011 with Kehoe, A. Social Tagging: A new perspective on textual 'aboutness'. In P. Rayson, S. Hoffmann and G. Leech (eds.) Studies in Variation, Contacts and Change in English Volume 6: Methodological and Historical Dimensions of Corpus Linguistics, University of Helsinki e-journal.
2009 with Kehoe, A. Weaving web data into a diachronic corpus patchwork. In A. Renouf and A. Kehoe (eds.) Corpus Linguistics: Refinements and Reassessments, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 255-279.
2007 with Kehoe, A. New corpora from the web: making web text more 'text-like'. In Pahta, P., I. Taavitsainen, T. Nevalainen and J. Tyrkkö (eds.) Towards Multimedia in Corpus Studies, University of Helsinki e-journal.
Matt has worked on research and consultancy projects to extract linguistic knowledge from textual data, reporting with colleagues to the BBC, Grey-London advertising agency and UK Parliament.
Consultancy Projects
2023-2024, CallIt! / Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity.
2021, BBC / Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, B.A.M.E.: A report on the use of the term and responses to it. Terminology Review for the BBC and Creative Industries.
2013, Grey-London / Procter & Gamble, Puma Dance Dictionary. [Review]