Alexander R W Forrest (President)
Robert Forrest is currently Professor of Forensic Chemistry to the University of Sheffield and Consultant in Clinical Chemistry & Forensic Toxicology to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. He has a particular interest in "white coat" and "blue dress" crime, that is crime committed by health care professionals during the practice of their professions. He also has a, purely professional, interest in modern witchcraft and the potential interaction of its practitioners with the criminal justice system.
He has variously been an ordinary member of the Council of the Society, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Editor before taking up the post of President in November 2005.
Brian W J Rankin (President Elect)
BSc, MSc, Cchem, FRSC
Brian Rankin has been a member of the FSSoc and employed by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) for over 25 years. After completing the MSc in Forensic Science at Strathclyde University he started his career as an operational forensic chemist as part of the Home Office FSS. About half of this time he has been an operational forensic scientist with experience of crime investigation of crimes against property such as burglary, criminal damage, robbery etc. He has also been a fire investigator investigating suspicious fires and he has also been an authorised analyst for the purposes of the Road Traffic Act. During his latter years he had a variety of roles from the management of teams of forensic scientists and involvement in high profile projects and programmes of work within the FSS arena and also with the Home Office and ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers). He has also been involved in the training of police officers of all ranks, scenes of crime officers and the legal profession and is an advocate of an integrated system to support the investigation of crime scene to court. Brian was involved with the setting up of a forensic science element at Bradford University and this course has gone from strength to strength. In addition he is currently an external examiner for some of the crime investigation courses at Teesside University. During his membership of the FSSoc he has held a number of roles including Vice President, Hon Secretary and Council member. He has made significant contributions to all roles and sees the future of the Society as full of potential. Brian is particularly interested in contributing to three areas: follow up action to the recent Select Committee Report 'Forensic Science on Trial', ground work for a Chartered FSSoc and support for running of the Society HQ in Harrogate.
Rebecca Pepler (Vice President)
MPhil MRSC MFSSoc RFP
Rebecca began her forensic career in Switzerland before moving to Dundee to work as a forensic chemist for Tayside Police. Subsequently, she moved to Burgoynes where she specialised in the investigation of fires, explosions and chemical incidents in the UK and francophone countries. During a 2 year stint as a Senior Lecturer in forensic science and chemistry at Anglia Ruskin University (formerly APU), she developed and successfully achieved validation for the UK?s first MSc in Fire Investigation, specifically aimed at the practitioner. Over 2 years ago Rebecca moved to M-Scan Ltd as Manager of Forensic Services where she undertakes prosecution and defence casework in forensic chemistry and fire and explosion investigation, along with business development and training of new scientists.
In addition, to her "day job" Rebecca has been a consultant to Gardiner Associates for over 4 years, training many Fire Officers, SOCOs and forensic scientists in both theoretical and practical fire investigation and forensic awareness. She is a Guest Member of the Fire and Explosion Investigation Working Group of ENFSI and a Specialty Assessor for the Fire Scene Examination Register of CRFP. Prior to being elected to Vice President, Rebecca was editor of "interfaces" for 6 years.
As Vice President, Rebecca represents the "voice of the members" on Council. She is working hard to implement a strategy to increase UK and international membership, and will work diligently to address any membership issues that arise during her 2 years as VP.
Colin Ratcliff (Honorary Treasurer)
Colin Ratcliff is an Account Manager with LGC Forensics, working from their Culham Laboratory. For many years he was a police officer with Thames Valley Police where his area of expertise was in Crime Scene Investigation, his last post in the force being Detective Inspector, Forensic Services Manager.
He joined the police in 1975 and worked in the field of CSI and Management for most of his service. He did get to spend some time in general police work, suffering varied experiences including uniformed constable and sergeant and as a firearms officer and HOLMES major crime manager. He is a professional member of the CRFP Disciplinary Committee and a Fellow of the Forensic Science Society. He has been a Council and Meetings Committee Member of the Society since 2001 and Honorary Treasurer since 2003.
Interests include trying (despite some self induced barriers) to still play tennis to league standard and holidays without a laptop connection.
Shirley Marshall (Honorary Secretary)
Shirley is a Principal Lecturer at University of Teesside and a registered Forensic Practitioner in human contact traces (DNA and body fluids) and has been a forensic scientist for 16 years. She began her career with the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory and after moving to Lothian & Borders Police in 1993, Shirley worked as a reporting officer in general biology before becoming the head of the DNA section. Shirley has contributed to national working groups on DNA and the National DNA Database. She has served on the council of the Forensic Science Society since 2000 and was elected Honorary Secretary in 2002 and 2005. Shirley is also a Chartered Biologist and a Member of the Institute of Biology.
Niamh Nic Daéid (Honorary Editor)
Dr. Niamh Nic Daéid is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Forensic Science at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and has been involved in forensic science since 1994. She undertakes case work in the areas of fire investigation, drug analysis and evaluation of trace evidence as well as conducting training in these areas to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She also regularly provides professional training and development for practising forensic scientists particularly in fire investigation.
Niamh is active on a number of international and national organisations including being deputy chair of the European Network of Forensic Institutes (ENFSI) working group for fire investigation and being a lead assessor for CRFP in fire scene examination.
Roger Davis (Co-opted Member & Chair of Publications Committee)
MSc PhD CChem FRSC Hon FFSSoc
Dr Roger Davis spent his professional career as a forensic scientist and casework manager at the Metropolitan Police Laboratory in London (now the London Laboratory of the Forensic Science Service). His contribution to the principles and practice of footwear mark examination is recognised internationally.
Roger joined the Forensic Science Society in 1973 and was first elected to Council in 1978. From 1984 to 1987, as Associate Editor (UK), he served on Council, managing the Journal of the Forensic Science Society on behalf of the Editor. He took over as Honorary Editor from 1987 to 1991 and subsequently became an active member of the Publications Committee.
Roger is currently Chair of the Publications Committee and a member of the Crime Scene Diploma team.
Michael Fereday (Co-opted Member)
Mike Fereday is a forensic scientist with over 35 years of experience and is currently Head of the Professional Standards Unit at Forensic Science Service Ltd. He has acted as an expert witness/ consultant in a number of high profile trials including the two appeals of the Birmingham Six and acted as a Consultant for Hampshire Constabulary in reviewing the operation of their Scientific Support Department. He has presented papers on professional standards for forensic scientists at conferences across Europe, Australia and the United States. He is a Lead Assessor and member of the Executive Board of the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners, has recently retired from being a Director of the Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Trades Alliance, the Sector Skills Council responsible for forensic science and is a member of the ENFSI competence assurance project group. He lectures on aspects of forensic science at King?s College London.
Matthew Hickson (Ordinary Member)
Having graduated from King?s College London in 2000, with an MSc in Forensic Science, I went on to become a Forensic Scientist and expert witness, specialising in the field of drugs of abuse. I am currently employed by LGC Forensics (formerly Forensic Alliance) in Culham, and have extensive experience in reporting all manner of complex drugs cases, including packaging comparisons. I am a registered forensic practitioner in the areas of Drugs and Marks specialties. After six years working in this field, I am now adding to my skills with DNA expertise. Although extremely dedicated to my career and the advancement of forensic science, I enjoy playing football, and am a keen, but unfortunately poor, coarse fisherman.
I am looking to bring a young, fresh, dynamic approach to the Forensic Science Society and to helping increase the Society?s status as a professional body. I am a professional member of the Society and would encourage all associate members to also apply for full membership. It is my aim to provide a conduit for younger members of the forensic community to have their voices heard at a national level. I want to help develop the professional status of the Society by encouraging more frequent, cheaper meetings, where young forensic scientists can forge links within the community, and to bring the focus back towards the science.
Ultimately, I want to be actively involved with the Council in facilitating change and continued improvement for the benefit of the Society and all of its members
Anya Hunt (Ordinary Member)
tba
Nick Mitchell (Ordinary Member)
FSSocDip DipCSE(Dunelm) RFP MFS
Nick Mitchell is the Head of Scenes of Crime with Leicestershire Constabulary.
After leaving the Armed Forces as a Master Photographer with a background in technical and scientific photography, he joined the police service in 1982 and has worked in Surrey, North Yorkshire and Nottingham Police. During his service he has been involved with a number of high profile cases and has been commended for his work in the role of Crime Scene Coordinator. During his service he was also seconded to the British Forensic Team in Kosovo and was involved in the investigation of exhuming mass graves and investigating crimes against humanity. Nick is a member of the UK Forensic Science education Group.
Nick joined the Forensic Science Society in 1994 and is one of our one of our Crime Scene Investigation Diploma examiners, having gained the Diploma with Distinction in 1999. In addition, he is an Assessor in Crime Scene Examination and member of the Governing Council with the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners (CRFP).
Anna-Marie O'Connor (Ordinary Member)
BSc (Hons), RFP
Anna-Marie O?Connor is a Senior Forensic Scientist for the Forensic Science Service in London, where she has worked since 1992. She reports body fluids and DNA in many case types and has given evidence on numerous cases including Low Copy Number DNA and Blood pattern analysis. Anna-Marie is a Registered Forensic Practitioner.
She has been a member of the Forensic Science Society since 1991 and served on council twice before (1996-99, 2000-03) as a member of the meetings committee. She has both convened several Society meetings and given a number of presentations.
Darren Phillips (Ordinary Member)
Darren graduated from Strathclyde University with his MSc in Forensic Science in the summer of 2000. His MSc thesis involved looking at the movement of fibres within cars using a helicopter as a wind source. This was carried out at Forensic Science Northern Ireland (FSNI) in Carrickfergus, County Antrim. His first operational post was then as a forensic scientist with the Forensic Science Service specialising in the interpretation of DNA profiles at their Huntingdon laboratory. He then moved to Abingdon, Oxfordshire and worked for Forensic Alliance Ltd at their Culham laboratory for nearly 2 years. During his time with Alliance he worked as a forensic biologist and drug scientist. He was also briefly seconded to Orchid Cellmark at Culham to work in their speculative DNA section.
In late 2002, Darren took up a lectureship in Forensic Biology at Anglia Polytechnic University (APU) in Cambridge. He was the lead person in the creation of the new Forensic Biology undergraduate degree programme on the Cambridge campus, becoming its Pathway Leader in 2004. He has also been responsible for the creation of a new state of the art DNA analysis laboratory also on the Cambridge campus.
His teaching specialisms include the investigation of sexual offences, body fluid analysis, blood pattern analysis, the analysis of hairs and fibres and the application of DNA technology to forensic biology casework.
Darren has been a member of the Forensic Science Society since 1999 and has been a Society Link Person since 2003. This has been a very rewarding and enjoyable position for Darren and he is very keen to become more involved with the Society as part of Council.
Ann Priston (Ordinary Member)
Dr Ann Priston graduated in 1967 with joint honours degree in Biochemistry and Physiology and obtained a PhD Biochemistry in 1970. During her early career she worked on DNA synthesis in the Nobel Prize winning team at Kings College London under Maurice Wilkins; also in the medical laboratories of Hammersmith and Westminster Hospitals and at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. She joined the Metropolitan Police Laboratory (1970) as Biologist eventually specialising in textile fibres in cases of murder and armed robbery and holds 14 commendations from police, Judges and CPS for dedication, professionalism and presentation in Court. For 10 years she concentrated on cases involving PIRA activity on the mainland and was recently awarded a Commissioner's Commendation for her contribution to the investigation into terrorism on the Greek mainland over the last 30 years. Dr Priston also lectures on the Courts, criminal procedure and expert evidence on the MSc course at King's College, London and within the FSS. She was invested with the OBE, March 1998 and appointed to the bench at Richmond-upon-Thames Magistrates' Court in January 2004.
Callum Sutherland (Ordinary Member)
Callum has just retired from the Metropolitan Police after 30 years service the vast majority of which was spent in the Criminal Investigation Department. During the latter part of his service he performed the role of Crime Scene Manager for the Serious Crime Directorate (SCD) dealing with forensic investigative matters at murder, attempted murder, serial, suspicious and unexplained death crime scenes. He was also involved in training at the Hendon Crime Academy for the Senior Investigating Officers, Advanced Exhibit Officers and Crime Scene Managers courses and has been invited to continue his input since his retirement. He has also travelled to South Africa on a number of occasions to deliver crime scene training to officers of the Independent Crime Directorate (ICD).
Callum now works for LGC Forensics as an Account Manager and is also involved in their Victim Identification Mass Fatalities Unit as one of the co -ordinators. He is serving his second term on the council of the Forensic Science Society and is the current Chair of the Conference committee
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