Advances in fingerprinting, which could change the face of forensics forever, are set to progress as a University of Abertay Dundee forensics expert is awarded a prestigious fellowship.
Joanna Fraser, Teaching Assistant in Forensic Science, is one of just 100 recipients of this year’s Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellowship scheme which aims to broaden experience while bringing tangible benefits to UK society.
Joanna’s PhD focuses on fingerprinting and, in particular, investigating sophisticated techniques to reveal fingerprints on clothing through ‘vacuum metal deposition’ where metal vapour is deposited onto the material to establish whether prints have been left.
Joanna is currently working in close consultation with the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) Forensic Services Dundee and the Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) on this method, which may even help determine a sequence of events in a potential crime scene.
Joanna, who has also been teaching at Abertay University for four years said, “I am delighted to be awarded this fellowship which will allow me to gather invaluable knowledge and experience from some of the most important forensics experts throughout the world and, ultimately, play a part in the future of forensics.”
Meanwhile, supervisor Professor David Bremner said, “I am absolutely delighted with this award to Joanna. This will give her an opportunity to see, at first hand, the ways that other forensic laboratories deal with similar evidence and hopefully the networking opportunities will lead to further advances in this area.”
The travelling fellowship will allow Joanna to visit world-renowned experts in universities and police departments across the globe, and hopefully attend and present at an international forensics conference in Australia. She hopes her research will provide valuable material for her PhD, which should be complete within the next two years.
Following the death of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965, thousands of people gave generously to a public subscription, which now funds travelling fellowships and bursaries at Churchill College, Cambridge. On their return, applicants must demonstrate that their project is feasible and of real benefit to their community and the UK as a whole.
ENDS
Note to picture editors: Image shows a visualisation of the results of vacuum metal deposition on cloth. Image is free to use.
Media enquiries:
Kevin Coe, Tel 07850 904110, Email k.coe@abertay.ac.uk