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Martin J. Ball is Honorary Professor in the School of Linguistics and English Language at Bangor University, Wales.

Until recently he was Professor of Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics at Linköping University, Sweden, having formerly held the position of Hawthorne-BoRSF Endowed Professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders, at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He received his bachelor’s degree with honours in Linguistics and English from the University of Wales (Bangor); his Master’s degree in phonetics and linguistics from the University of Essex; his Ph.D. from the University of Wales (Cardiff), and a DLitt degree from Bangor University.

Dr Ball has authored and edited over 35 books, 50 contributions to collections and 100 refereed articles in academic journals. He has also presented at conferences around the world. He is co-editor of the journal Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics (Taylor & Francis); and of the book series Studies in Phonetics and Phonology (Equinox), Communication Disorders across Languages (Multilingual Matters), and Language and Speech Disorders (Psychology Press). His main research interests include sociolinguistics, clinical phonetics and phonology, and the linguistics of Welsh. He has been President of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association; he is an honorary Fellow of the UK Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. His most recent books are Principles of Clinical Phonology (Routledge, 2016) and Challenging Sonority (co-edited with N. Müller, Equinox, 2016).

Joan Rahilly is Professor in Linguistics and Phonetics at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her research focuses on phonetic and phonological manifestations of speech and language disorders, but she is also pursuing work on literacy acquisition amongst young people in the Northern Irish context.

Orla Lowry is Lecturer in Language and Linguistics in School of Communication and Media at Ulster University, Northern Ireland.

Nicola Bessell is Lecturer in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at University College Cork, Republic of Ireland, and works on variation in Irish English as well as clinical linguistics.

Nicola started linguistic life with Old and Middle English texts in the BA Hons degree at the University of Oxford, followed by a Master’s degree in Linguistics and Comparative Philology. After working in a bookshop, at Oxford University Press, and then as a research assistant at Oxford University Phonetics Laboratory, she went to Canada to do a PhD. At the University of British Columbia she started fieldwork on First Nations languages. Her PhD research is on the phonetics and phonology of the velar, uvular, pharyngeal and glottal consonants of the Interior Salish languages. She held a post-doctoral position at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, and a faculty position in the Linguistics Department at the University of Texas at Austin.

Alice Lee is Lecturer in Speech and Hearing Sciences at University College Cork, Republic of Ireland. Her research focuses on perceptual and instrumental investigations of speech disorders and typical speech production, and listener training for perceptual judgement of speech disorders.