Associate Professor Rachel Bolton-King

Society Position: Honorary Editor
Qualifications/Postnominals:PhD, PgCHPE, BSc(Hons), DiPP, MCSFS, AMRSC, AFTE(TA), FHEA, NTF, CF
Current Employment: Staffordshire University 

Professional Background

Rachel is an Associate Professor of Forensic Science at Staffordshire University, specialising in firearms and ballistics. She has a PhD in forensic firearm identification and imaging, is a Technical Advisor for the Association of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners, a Professional Member of The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Rachel works on multi and interdisciplinary research projects with international law enforcement and forensic practitioners. She has published numerous research articles and book chapters over the last 10 years across a range of journals, speaking at international conferences, higher education institutions and industry events. She has previously served on a journal Editorial Board and journal Advisory Board, organised conferences, run numerous seminars to support researchers through the publication process and initiated writing retreats to increase publication outputs.

She is passionate about supporting and developing academia-industry partnerships, for example through the award winning Staffordshire Forensic Partnership, FIT-IN and the development of Research4Justice (www.research4justice.ac.uk), a centralised platform for sharing open access research relevant to international justice systems. She has recently been awarded her Churchill Fellow status following her international research into firearm investigations, which is now being used to enhance UK practice. Her innovative and technological practices in the teaching and learning of forensic and crime sciences have led to her being appointed as a National Teaching Fellow and shortlisted for a Times Higher Education Award. Rachel hopes her prior experience and reputation working with academics, researchers and criminal justice practitioners deems her to be a credible candidate for appointment to this important position.
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CSFS Background

Rachel has enjoyed working with the Society and its members, for example developing Certificates of Competence, assessing the former Pre-Employment Assessments of Competence and recently contributing to their new webinar series. 

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