Professor Colin Aitken, University of Edinburgh, UK
Colin is Professor of Forensic Statistics at The University of Edinburgh. His research concerns the interface of statistics, law and forensic science, and he has published many papers and co-authored two books. He is Chairman of the RSS working group on Statistics and the Law, and Chairman of the Joseph Bell Centre of Forensic Statistics and Legal Reasoning. Colin is also Chief Editor of the journal Law, Probability and Risk.
Ms Jo Ashworth, NPIA, UK
Joanne is the Head of Physical Evidence at the National Policing Improvement Agency. She has been a forensic scientist for 18 years and has worked for the FSS and within the police service. She is involved in national projects including the Strategic Framework for Forensic Science.
Dr Rob Fitzpatrick, CAFSS, Australia
Rob is Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO Land and Water, Australia. He is Director of the Centre for Australian Forensic Soil Science (CAFSS) and leads the Advanced Analytical Techniques in Biogeochemistry research group and is an Associate Professor at The University of Adelaide.
His research concerns the interface of soil mineralogy, pedology and biogeochemistry as applied to: (i) advanced techniques to characterise, map and monitor soil-water systems, (ii) soil-landscape processes and (iii) environmental and criminal forensic techniques for soils.
Mark Harrison MBE, National Search Adviser, NPIA, UK
Mark is the National Search Adviser in relation to Homicide, missing persons and mass fatality disasters for the Police service within the United Kingdom. His services focus on technologies and methodologies applicable to searching for victims that have been concealed, usually for many years, in land or water.
Professor Ken Killham, University of Aberdeen, Remedios, UK
Ken is Professor of Soil Science (Soil Microbiology) in the Department of Plant & Soil Science, University of Aberdeen. He is also Vice-Chairman of Remedios Ltd. (a University spin-out bioremediation company). He is interested in microbial ecology and soil microbiology, as well as microbial biosensors and bioremediation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
Dr Murray Lark, Rothamsted Research Institute, UK
Murray Lark is leader of the Environmetrics group at Rothamsted, and visiting Professor of Soil Science at Reading and Cranfield Universities. His research interests are in the spatial analysis of soil variation, with particular reference to environmental monitoring, mapping and inventory. Much of his work has focused on the development and application of geostatistical methodology, and on the application of wavelet transforms to problems in spatial analysis.
Dr Stephen Mudge, Ocean Sciences, The University of Wales, Bangor, UK
Stephen started the first undergraduate degree course in Environmental Forensics (EF), within the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor. Throughout his career, he has conducted investigations of the environment usually with the aim of finding out who was responsible for contamination.
While at Lancaster University, he investigated atmospheric 210Po to establish regional versus local distributions. He moved to Bangor in 1991 and almost immediately was quantifying the contribution local sewage discharges made to the coastal zone. A series of studies have since been undertaken on tracking sewage in the environment and he has investigated such contamination across Europe, Canada and South America. Stephen has delivered courses in the biomarker approach to sewage tracking around Europe as part of a Water Framework Directive Masters and at a Chilean University where he is a visiting Professor.
In 1997 he won the Enterprise Oil, Heriot Watt University, Environmental Award for his studies on using a biologically-derived solvent for removing oil off contaminated beaches. He has published 30 papers since 2001, three book chapters and is editing a new book for 2007 on the diverse methods available to the environmental forensic practitioner.
Dr James Robertson, Forensic Laboratories of the Australian Federal Police, Australia
Originally a graduate of the University of Glasgow in Agricultural Botany, James completed a PhD in plant physiology at Glasgow. Following a short Post Doc in London he entered the world of forensic science in 1979 as a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde. Amongst his early interests was the forensic examination of soils.
A move to Australia in 1985 saw James working in the South Australian Centre for Forensic Sciences before becoming the first non sworn head of forensic services with the Australian Federal Police in 1989. James is now National Manager Forensic and Technical (F&T) and in charge of about 400 staff with offices across the country with the main laboratories located in Canberra. F&T provides a very broad range of forensic and technical services in support of the AFP’s local (Canberra), national and international policing and law enforcement roles.
James has retained an active involvement in academia, has published widely and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney and at the University of Canberra. He is very active in numerous advisory and policy committees in academia and government. He has worked on a number of major commissions of enquiry into wrongful convictions. Recently, he was awarded the Australian Public Service Medal for services to forensic science and law enforcement.
Dr. Mark Tibbett, Centre for Land Rehabilitation (M087), School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Australia
Mark joined the Centre in 2003 and took over as Director in October. His research interests include: microbial ecology, early ecosystem succession and incipient soil development, biogeochemical cycling (of nutrients and pollutants) in terrestrial ecosystems, restoration ecology and the function of mycorrhizas in ecosystems. He has wide experience iwith different ecosystems, having worked in tropical, Mediterranean, temperate and polar regions.
Ms Patricia Wiltshire, University of Aberdeen, UK
Patricia works as a consultant forensic ecologist, botanist, and palynologist for many agencies, including the Forensic Science Service, National and International Police Forces, and private companies at home and abroad.
She is actively engaged in casework and is supported by a team of other environmentalists. She has worked on over 200 cases in the last 13 years with most of the police forces in Britain. She previously lectured in Microbial and General Ecology at Kings College London, and in Forensic Archaeological Science at University College London and is an experienced expert witness and has given evidence in many high profile criminal cases. She engages in work for both the Prosecution and Defence.
She is a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen and Research Associate of the University of Gloucestershire and has published widely in archaeology and forensic science. Her current research endeavours include investigating the taphonomic variables encountered in forensic palynology. She is an investigator in the EPSRC SoilFit project and a member of the EPSRC GIMI geoforensic network.
