Best wishes for the coming year. 2020 was completely different from what any of us could have imagined. I want to pay tribute to Anya and all the staff for finding the silver lining in the cloud for the Society. Of course, like everyone else the CSFS was affected but thanks to their efforts and in spite of working from home for periods of time, the Society continued to thrive.
I was surprised to take over the role of President in a very different way from what I imagined a year ago. I had supposed I would visit the office and meet the staff but that did not happen, and I want to thank Nicola for keeping me on the straight and narrow since I joined Council. I look forward to continuing to work with current Council members Roger Robson, Marce Lee-Gorman, Brian Rankin, Adam Long and William Morris and new Council members Rachel Bolton-King, Samantha Pickles and David Hancock.
Our Society, in common with much of the world, went virtual in 2020 and again great credit to our CEO for overseeing this seamless transition.
The annual meeting was a virtual event during which four streams were held in parallel, following the Stuart Kind lecture delivered by outgoing UKFS Regulator Dr Gillian Tully who had received a CBE shortly before in recognition of her work as Regulator. It is wonderful for the Society to bask in the reflected glow of Gill’s success. She provides a role model for any young member or indeed any member at an earlier stage of their career. She has been an inspiring leader in her role as Regulator and forensic science owes her a debt.
The advantage of a virtual event is that the content is available after the date of delivery. Look up the website for information on how to access any sessions you missed. Thank you to all the presenters and chairs, and indeed all who participated.
The whole move to virtual had unexpected benefits for members, with a series of lunch time webinars being set up whose popularity suggests that they are filling a need for a range of Society members both professional and affiliate. A special thank you to those webinar presenters. We will continue in 2021 and welcome anyone who would wish to give a webinar or would like to identify a topic they would like covered to contact Nicola.schumacher@csofs.org
I recently hosted the first ‘Focus on Forensic Scientists’ evening Q&A where my guest was Professor Jim Fraser, a former President of the Society. I really enjoyed discussing Jim’s life as a forensic scientist and hearing about his recent book called “Murder under the Microscope – a personal history of Homicide” which I would highly recommend.
On the 21st January, I look forward to meeting Professor Tim Thompson to hear his views on forensic science, its interaction with academia and the world of publishing. Other expected guests are Professor Angela Gallop and Professor Niamh Nic Daeid. To join us for these informal chats while hearing from some of the leaders in this field visit www.csofs.org/Events/76153
I am both honoured and excited to be President of the Society. I am and have been a member of various professional bodies and societies but CSFS is MY society, as I hope it is yours, representing as it does the area in which we work. A society is its members and I encourage you to grow the membership. The larger the group CSFS represents, the greater the strength of our collective voice. Moving into 2021, I would like to challenge each of you to recruit one additional member.
I look forward to another fruitful year in 2021, with a further virtual conference and more webinars. I am also exploring the possibility of setting up a mentoring scheme, we have great experience and knowledge in the Society, and it would be good to share this with those members coming up through their career.
Best wishes to you all for 2021.
Dr Sheila Willis
CSFS President
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