Dr Elisabeth Carter

I use my research to inform my teaching through delivering practical examples of methodological approaches to real-life cases and real-life data. I also provide links between academia and organisations that operate in the public, private and third sectors. I ensure all modules I teach include elements that enhance student employability, skills and visibility in the graduate world after graduation.

Modules taught

Undergraduate

• L6 Risk and Crime
• Dissertation module
• Personal tutor

Postgraduate

• Critical Criminology
• Victimology
• Understanding Crime and Criminal Careers
• Dissertation module
• Personal tutor

Qualifications

• Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Selected recent papers

• Carter, E. (2024) Inside Romance Frauds: How can analysing discourses in social science research help us understand one of the UK's most damaging ‘white collar' crimes? Sociology Review 33(4)
• Kassem, R. and Carter, E. (2023), "Mapping romance fraud research – a systematic review", Journal of Financial Crime
• Carter, E. (2023) Compelled to comply: Exposing the exploitation of communicative relationships by fraudsters to gain and harness compliance from their victims. The British Journal of Criminology
• Carter, E. (2021) Distort, extort, deceive and exploit: Exploring the inner workings of a romance fraud, The British Journal of Criminology 61(2): 283–302

Selected books

• Carter, E. (2024) "The language of romance crimes: Interactions of love, money and threat". Cambridge Elements Series in Forensic Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Carter, E. (2013) Analysing police interviews: Laughter, confessions and the tape, London: Continuum. Winner of the ‘Criminology Book Prize' Awarded by the British Society of Criminology

Selected book chapters

• Kikerpill, K., Carter, E. Himma-Kadakas, M. and Hansson, S. (2024) Contextual factors of online deception and harmful information: Multidisciplinary perspectives. Routledge International Handbook of Online Deviance
• Carter, E. (2022) Forensic Linguistics. In: J. Verschueren and J. Östman (eds., second edition) Handbook of Pragmatics. John Benjamins Publishing, pp. 572–586
• Carter, E. (2020) Examining Lies and False Answers in Interviews and Police interrogations. In: Celestino de Almeida, D., Coulthard, M. and Sousa-Silva, R. (eds.) Perspectives in Forensic Linguistics, pp. 292-315

Qualifications

• BA Psycholinguistics
• MA Criminology
• MA Criminological Research
• PhD Sociology (Criminology)
• CUBS Qualified Expert Witness (Criminal)

Specialisms

• Criminology
• Forensic Linguistics
• Sociology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics

Scholarly affiliations

• British Society of Criminology
• European Society of Criminology
• International Association for Legal and Forensic Linguistics
• Law and Society Association

Dr Elisabeth Carter is a criminologist and forensic linguist whose individual expertise, unrelenting drive and trademark enthusiasm make a real-world difference in tackling fraud. An unwaveringly generous and popular collaborator, her distinctive and internationally-recognised academic expertise is matched by her relentless passion and skill in translating this into compelling and accessible guidance, training, conference keynotes and publications that inspire action and drive effective change. Her critically-acclaimed research provides unique insights relevant across the entire fraud-fighting landscape, directly achieving better psychological and financial outcomes for victims, increasing public protection from fraud, and challenging negative narratives around fraud victimhood through delivering effective strategies for cross-industry practitioners and using her media profile to reach the public on national and international levels. Her knowledge exchange and impact has led to real changes across all fraud-fighting sectors and has been recognised through her being awarded Outstanding Tackling Economic Crime Professional (TECAs) and a finalist for Fraud Leadership in the Public Sector Fraud Awards.

I disseminate my research through writing cross-sector public-facing guidance, books and academic papers, in print media articles and blogs, through keynotes and invited research presentations at public, industry and academic events, and through the development and delivery of industry training. 

I talk about my research and examine real criminal cases on Radio 4's Thinking Allowed, Word of Mouth and Moneybox, and regularly feature on TV series including BBC One's For Love or Money (series 1, 2 and 3), BBC One's Dirty Rotten Scammers, BBC One's Scam Interceptors (series 2) and Dave's Special Ops: Crime Squad UK.

I use my research to support law enforcement campaigns, provide national guidance and guide and direct police operations, deliver practical strategies across law enforcement, financial sector, charity sector, online dating sector and local government to disrupt the power of fraudulent communication, and to safeguard people from harm.

Talking to Michael Rosen on Radio 4's Word of Mouth about the language used by fraudsters who fake romantic relationships: online for monetary gain.

Professional and scholarly affiliations

• British Society of Criminology
• British Sociological Association
• Law and Society Association
• International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguistics
• European Society of Criminology
• American Society of Criminology