Background

• Research associate, Computing/Linguistics, University of Lancaster, 1983-6
• Lecturer in Computer Science, Lancashire Polytechnic, 1986-7
• Lecturer in Linguistics, Polytechnic of Central London, 1988-1990
• Research Fellow, RDUELS, University of Birmingham, 1991-1
• Lecturer in English Language, University of Birmingham, 1992-present

Teaching

1st year UG: Language Foundation. 2nd year UG: Development and Variation in English (DAVE). 3rd year UG: Corpus Research in Child Language.

PG: Forensic Linguistics.

Research

Research interests include: Forensic Linguistics/ Language and Law; Child Language; Language and Gender; Discourse Analysis; Corpus Linguistics.

Research groups

I am a member of the International Association of Forensic Linguists and have served on its committee and on the editorial board of the journal "Forensic Linguistics".

Conferences

Organised the IAFL conference in 1999.

Other activities

I am one of the Department's Welfare Tutors.

I am currently learning Arabic at the Brasshouse Centre. I hold a number of local and national positions in the University and College Union.

Selected publications

• Blackwell, SA, Koster, C, Meijs, WJ and Mihailovic, I, (editors), 2004, European English: texts and Exercises. Editions der Werelt, Amsterdam. ISBN 90 71317 19 6
• Blackwell, SA, Shapero, JJ and Meijs, WJ, 2007, "Texts of Murder and Martyrdom", in Kredens, K and Gozdz-Roszkowski, S, Language and the Law: International Outlooks, Peter Lang GmbH, Frankfurt am Mein
• Blackwell, SA, "Power and Solidarity revisited: the acquisition and use of personal pronouns in modern English and Dutch." PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, 2007