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Forensic Science: Current State and Perspective by a Group of Early Career Researchers

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Abstract

Forensic science and its influence on policing and the criminal justice system have increased since the beginning of the twentieth century. While the philosophies of the forensic science pioneers remain the pillar of modern practice, rapid advances in technology and the underpinning sciences have seen an explosion in the number of disciplines and tools. Consequently, the way in which we exploit and interpret the remnant of criminal activity are adapting to this changing environment. In order to best exploit the trace, an interdisciplinary approach to both research and investigation is required. In this paper, nine postdoctoral research fellows from a multidisciplinary team discuss their vision for the future of forensic science at the crime scene, in the laboratory and beyond. This paper does not pretend to be exhaustive of all fields of forensic science, but describes a portion of the postdoctoral fellows’ interests and skills.

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Source: Taudte et al. (2013)

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) for the Centre for Forensic Science Research Strength block funding, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for Forensic Science Sponsorship, the Bulgin Fund for Forensic Science research, RSC Publication for the use of Fig. 1 and Professors Claude Roux, Shari Forbes, Peter Gunn and Shanlin Fu for their constructive feedback on the manuscript. We also would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that allowed us to improve the quality of the manuscript. Drs. Jessirie Dilag and Xanthe Spindler thank the Australian Research Council (ARC), the UTS Chancellor’s postdoctoral fellowship, the AFP, Victoria Police, partner and chief investigators for their ongoing support of ARC Linkage Project LP130101019. Dr. Marie Morelato would like to gratefully thank the AFP and UTS Chancellor’s postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Lucas Blanes would like to thank the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) of the Department of Defence of Australia (Project MylP#6077). Dr. Sébastien Moret would like to thank the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for the grant provided to support his research (Early Postdoc.Mobility grant no. P2LAP1_151777). Dr. Katie Nizio wishes to acknowledge the financial support of Prof Shari Forbes’ ARC Future Fellowship (FT110100753) and ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Grant (LE150100015) including partner and chief investigators. Dr. Unnikrishnan Kuzhiumparambil would like to thank Anti-Doping Research Program (ADRP) of the Australian Government, Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport for the grant provided to support this research (20-UTS-2011-12).

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    1. Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, 2007, Australia

      Marie Morelato, Mark Barash, Lucas Blanes, Scott Chadwick, Jessirie Dilag, Unnikrishnan Kuzhiumparambil, Katie D. Nizio, Xanthe Spindler & Sebastien Moret

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    1. Marie Morelato
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    Marie Morelato, Mark Barash, Lucas Blanes, Scott Chadwick, Jessirie Dilag, Unnikrishnan Kuzhiumparambil, Katie D. Nizio, Xanthe Spindler and Sebastien Moret have contributed equally to this work.

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    Morelato, M., Barash, M., Blanes, L. et al. Forensic Science: Current State and Perspective by a Group of Early Career Researchers. Found Sci 22, 799–825 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-016-9500-0

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