Staffordshire University

Staffordshire University

The following courses are Recognised by the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences

PgC Forensic Science

PgD Forensic Science

Department of Forensic and Crime Science

We have been in existence since 2000 and in the summer of 2012 we moved to a £30 million Science Centre at our Stoke-on-Trent campus.

In November 2006, Staffordshire University became one of the first four institutions to achieve accreditation of its undergraduate courses and the very first institution to achieve accreditation of its postgraduate course.

Our department also offers a number of short courses in Forensic Archaeology, Forensic Firearms Identification & Ballistics, Forensic Imaging, Underwater Crime Scene Investigation and Wildlife Crime.  We are also involved in delivering Forensic Awareness Training to a number of local Police Forces.

Facilities

Our laboratories were purpose-built for the teaching of Forensic Science. Specialist facilities include a trauma room for the creation and interpretation of blood patterns, a decomposition room, a ballistics room, a superglue fuming room, a bone room and an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) suite. We also have specialist areas for the dusting and lifting of fingerprints and garment analysis.

Within the laboratories, we have a vast range of equipment that our students have the opportunity to use, not only during their practical sessions, but also in their independent research project.  In our Analytical Chemistry Suite we have a comprehensive selection of analytical equipment that provides hands-on experience of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC), including gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS), pyrolysis-GC and thermal desorption (for the analysis of fire accelerants).  We also have atomic absorption spectrometers, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer, ion chromatograph, polarograph, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, fluorimeter and UV-visible spectrophotometer.  In our specialist facility we also have a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, an X-ray diffractometer, and a scanning electron microscope.

As well as these analytical instruments we also have an extensive collection of specialist equipment housed in our criminalistics laboratory.  For the development and analysis of fingerprints and fingermarks we have a fingerprint digitizer, a superglue-fuming chamber, a Crime-lite®, three Russell comparators® as well as AFIS. For the analysis of documents we have two video spectral comparators, two Electrostatic Detection Apparatus (ESDA), two Raman microscopes and an Infra-Red (IR) microscope.  We also have a comparison macroscope and microscope for the analysis of toolmarks and ballistic evidence, a hot-stage microscope for the determination of refractive index of glass and class sets of stereo and polarising microscopes for the analysis of hairs and fibres.

We have the facilities to deliver practical sessions and undertake research in all areas of forensic biology including presumptive and confirmatory testing of body fluids, the examination of evidence from sexual offence cases, forensic entomology, blood pattern interpretation, human and animal hair analysis, anthropology, osteology and archaeology and decomposition studies.  For the analysis of DNA evidence, we have a range of equipment for DNA extraction, quantification, amplification, profiling and sequencing of DNA samples.  Equipment in our biological laboratories includes a number of PCR machines designed for DNA amplification including gradient PCR and Real-Time quantification, class sets of gel electrophoresis equipment and UV Gel Doc Systems.  We have an Applied Biosystems 3500 genetic analyser, which has 8 channels allowing for high-throughput DNA STR profiling and sequencing.

We are licensed by the Home Office to store all classes of illicit and seized drugs, thereby giving students ‘real life’ samples for analysis in the laboratory or crime scene scenarios.

Our established Crime Scene House provides the opportunity to gain training and experience of investigating realistic simulated crime scenes. Each room has been furnished to resemble a typical domestic scene and contains exhibits of the type of evidence that can be recovered from the scene of a real crime, such as fingerprints, drugs, hairs, fibres and bloodstain patterns.

A dedicated briefing room is attached to the house. The house is equipped with CCTV consisting of cameras with full pan, tilt and zoom functions in each room and a two-way audio system so that the observing tutor can give support to the students processing the scenes.

The extensive gardens and hard-standing enable us to simulate outdoor crime scenes, such as clandestine burials.  These present their own associated problems, such as the weather, which can be predicted by neither criminals nor investigators!

Past Student Graduate Destinations

Many and varied career prospects await you once you have a degree in Forensic Science or Forensic Investigation.  The skills you develop in investigation and analysis can be utilised in a wide variety of roles.  Our graduates have found employment as forensic scientists (for a number of providers including Key Forensic Services Ltd, LGC and Cellmark Forensic Services), Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs), police evidence submissions officers, fingerprint officers, vehicle examiners, crime analysts, analytical scientists, local authority employees in areas allied to policing, technical sales personnel.  Others have gone on to further study (at Masters or PhD level) or trained to be teachers.

Postgraduate Courses

We offer a programme of postgraduate courses, comprising Postgraduate Certificate (PgC), Postgraduate Diploma (PgD) and Master of Science (MSc) in Forensic Science.

These courses are designed for those with a first degree in either forensic science or another science subject (ideally chemistry or biology but other degrees may be acceptable) who want to further their knowledge and experience of forensic science.

The courses are predominately based on a distance learning (DL) approach, via a virtual learning environment called Blackboard, and supplemented by intensive residential workshops.

Postgraduate Certificate (PgC)

This comprises of the following modules:

Firearms, Fires and Explosions (taught entirely by DL) - includes details of the types of firearm and ammunition used as well as the examination of suspect firearms, spent projectiles and the collection and analysis of gunshot residues. You will also learn about fire scene analysis and the use of chemical analysis for the detection of accelerants, location of the seat of the fire and identification of the source of ignition. Additionally it includes the forensic analysis of explosions and explosives, classification of explosives and examples of those types commonly used by terrorists. You will learn about the forensic approach to the scene of an explosion.

Methods of Crime Detection – mostly taught by DL, but requires attendance for the presentation of evidence as an expert witness in a mock law court (undertaken during attendance for Practical Support 1). You will learn about the role of forensic science in the investigation of crime, the fundamental principles of the scientific evaluation of evidence and how the provision of forensic science services is organised and accredited in the UK. It includes an overview of how crime scenes are managed. Specific aspects of contact evidence will be addressed, including: fingerprints, the impressions made by footwear and bare feet, evidence provided by hairs and other fibres, glass, paint, blood stain and injury patterns, and tool marks. Other aspects include the commonly used systems of criminal justice and the role of the expert witness in these systems.  You will also receive a brief introduction to Bayesian statistics and the use of likelihood ratios. You will develop the skills required by the expert witness, by gaining experience in writing expert reports and presenting evidence orally in the courtroom environment (including answering questions whilst under cross-examination).

Practical Support 1 – This module requires attendance over a two week period at a practical workshop and gives practical support to the theory learned in the two modules above. You will gain hands-on experience of using techniques generally described as criminalistic methods. The range of techniques covered include: fingerprinting (collection, enhancement and digitising/analysis), analysis of fibres through various microscopic techniques, analysis of documents and ink (using ESDA, VSC, Raman Spectroscopy and FTIR Spectroscopy), analysis of paint (using FTIR and Raman Spectroscopy and SEM), collection and analysis of glasses and fracture patterns (including the determination of refractive index by hot stage microscopy), ballistic interpretations and markings.

The module will include collection of evidence from a simulated crime scene and subsequent laboratory analysis of the evidence.

Postgraduate Diploma (PgD)

This award requires four more modules in addition to the ones in the PgC. 

DNA Profiling and Analysis of Biological Evidence (taught entirely by DL) – it focuses on the examination of biological evidence, with topics ranging from the processing of recovered evidential samples, identification of body fluids and analysis of DNA samples. The processes involved in DNA recovery, extraction, quantification and analysis will be discussed, with specific reference to the current DNA profiling techniques used. Alternative types of DNA analysis, including mitochondrial DNA sequencing and Y-STR analysis will also be introduced. The statistical interpretation of DNA evidence will be covered, enabling an understanding of how DNA evidence is reported in a court of law. Additional topics that will be addressed are forensic pathology, anthropology, forensic entomology, blood pattern analysis and analysis of hair evidence.

Methods of Chemical Analysis (taught entirely by DL) - focusses on the chemical techniques used to analyse a number of different evidence types. Methods include separative methods (including solvent extraction, chromatography and capillary electrophoresis), spectroscopic methods (including mass spectrometry, molecular spectroscopy, atomic spectroscopy and infrared and Raman spectroscopy) as well as X-ray and electrochemical methods. All analytical techniques will consider their suitability to and applications in forensic science. Theoretical aspects are dealt with alongside practical to allow evaluation and appraisal of a specific technique.

Drugs and Toxicology (taught entirely by DL) - addresses the key forensic issues relating to drugs, including drug legislation, analysis of drugs and drug related materials, and clandestine drug synthesis. Forensic toxicology has three main areas of study; drugs of abuse, poisons and post-mortem applications. This module will examine these three areas together with the underpinning needed to interpret the information.

Practical Support 2 – This module requires attendance on a two week workshop and will provide hands on experience of a wide range of analytical equipment encountered in forensic science. The main thrust is to provide experiments that allow comparison of techniques and methods. Examples of the type of experiment you might expect are: analysis of drugs to evaluate the potential of different chromatographic techniques, the analysis of fire accelerant, the analysis of environmental sample, DNA profiling to illustrate the importance of sample preparation for obtaining DNA information from different evidence types such as hair, saliva, semen and blood, the analysis of explosives to evaluate a range of analytical techniques including Raman and FTIR microscopy, SEM and spectrometric.

On successful completion of both the PgC and PgD it is possible to progress to the MSc, please see the accredited institutions pages on the CSFS website for more details.