Chartered Forensic Practitioner Status ChFP
A FURTHER ROUND OF ASSESSMENTS WILL BE HELD IN MARCH 2020 - please email membership@csofs.org by 13th December 2019 to express your interest and confirm your specialty.
Who can apply?
Any full (professional) Member or Fellow (MCSFS or FCSFS), with relevant industry experience who, as a practitioner, has been certified competent as an Expert Witness. Applicants can either have demonstrated competence via the CSFS CPC scheme or through their organisation. They should be able to demonstrate attendance at a suitable expert witness training programme. (Training is available separately should this be required - please contact us if you are in need of it).
Criteria?
Applicants must be full Members (MCSFS) or Fellows (FCSFS) of The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences with a minimum of 5 years relevant experience. Applicants will be required to provide evidence that they are certified as competent in their area of expertise and will have to provide evidence of ongoing commitment to CPD.
The assessment process?
The process has two stages and is overseen by a group of assessors, made up of an Expert Panel and a Professional Panel.
Stage 1 - complete and return an Application Form and a Portfolio Form, along with evidence of professional competency and committment to CPD. There will be a non-refundable application fee of £75 at this stage.
This initial application will be reviewed by a member of the Expert Panel over a period of 2 weeks. The purpose of this stage is twofold: it gives the applicant an opportunity to give details of their current employment and associated competency (skills and knowledge) in order to provide evidence to the assessors that they are eligible for interview. Secondly, it provides information which may contribute to questions they will be asked at interview.
Stage 2 - attend two panel interviews (same day), each of 30-45 minutes. In line with other Chartered bodies, the applicant will be required to demonstrate both technical ability (Expert Panel) and professional awareness (Professional Panel)
The Stage 2 assessment will cost £225. So the total cost in year 1 would be £300.
If successful, the newly Chartered Forensic Practitioner would be expected to renew their membership at the ChFP rate (currently £300) for the next two years. They would then have to put themselves forward for re-assessment at the end of year 3.
Interested?
Write to membership@csofs.org before December 13th 2019 to request the application forms for the next round, stating your specialty. The process will then continue as described above.
The next round of assessments is likely to take place in March, but you should understand that the number of days offered, and the specialties covered, will be driven by demand.
Unfortunately at this early stage of the program we are not able to take candidates from outside of the UK. However, plans are in progress to widen this coverage.