You can view all of our archived newsletters here!
01 April 2018
As of the 01 April 2018 the INTREPID Forensics Programme has officially ended. We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the Programme, including but not limited to: our research fellows, supervisors and second supervisors, the Programme Team, the University of Leicester, our secondment partners, the EU for funding it, everyone who has been involved with running training, the CSoFS, our newsletter subscribers, and everyone else who has supported the Programme and made it possible. Thank you all.
The website will remain active for a a year after the end of the Programme.
22 March 2018
You can check out some of the photos from our conference over in our Media Gallery.
05 March 2018
Last week we held our Innovation through Collaboration conference at College Court in Leicester. This event was incredibly successful and we’ll be posting some photos and comments soon!
03 January 2018
Alex Smyth (Project 1), one of our research fellows has been doing some research work in Larimer County Colorado and was featured in the local press: www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2017/12/11/northern-colorado-bomb-squad-helps-test-new-bomb-blast-investigation-device/931618001/
29 November 2017
Registration for our conference being held on 01-02 March 2018 is now open, visit the Chartered Society of Forensic Science’s Website for more details: www.csofs.org/Events/INTREPID-Forensics-Innovation-through-Collaboration/50295
02 October 2017
We are very happy to welcome back Tom Horton to the INTREPID Forensics management team. Tom is taking over from Alex for the last 6 months of the Programme to enable Alex to begin his own PhD studies, we wish him the best of luck and want to thank him for all his hard work over the last 14 months.
04 July 2017
INTREPID fellow Francisco Goncalves has had a double success at the University of Leicester’s 2017 Festival of Postgraduate Research, winning the Graduate Dean’s Prize for Public Engagement as well as the Best Poster (College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities) for his poster ‘Beyond the Context: Decision Making in Forensic Science’. Congratulations to Francisco for these prizes. More details on the Festival and its other winners can be found here.
07 June 2017
Well done to INTREPID fellows Francisco Goncalves and Alex Smyth for their participation in the University of Leicester’s 3 Minute Thesis competition, in which Alex was named runner up. More information on the competition and its winners can be found here.
08 May 2017
We’re pleased to announce that Dr Lisa Smith’s research project on the use of forensic DNA for sexual violence cases in low-resource environments has been nominated for a Research Impact Award, in the Best International Impact category. Congratulations to Lisa and the team for this achievement.
15 March 2017
Our first intellectual property training session is underway at College Court! Many thanks to the University of Leicester’s Research and Enterprise Division as well as to Potter Clarkson patent attorneys for putting together an interesting day of sessions on innovation, intellectual property and the patent process.
17 February 2017
We are pleased to announce that INTREPID fellow Thalassa Valkenburg is the co-author of an article, recently accepted for publication by the Journal of Chromatography A. It’s an interesting read concerning protein analysis, and can be viewed here.
31 January 2017
A warm welcome to the University of Amsterdam and to Penn State, the newest associate partners of the INTREPID Forensics programme. Head over to our partners page for links to the websites for all of the INTREPID partners.
15 December 2016
Many thanks to Will Morris for delivering an illuminating day of fingerprint training to several INTREPID students last week. Will’s excellent session concludes another year of INTREPID training events and opportunities. We are grateful to all our trainers and partners, and looking forward to repeating this success next year. Merry Christmas!
05 December 2016
Well done to INTREPID fellow Francisco Gonçalves, who was awarded the best oral communication prize at the Conference of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in Coimbra, Portugal. Here is an image of Francisco in action…
23 November 2016
Congratulations are in order for several of our INTREPID students for successfully presenting their work at the 2nd Congress of the European Division of the International Association of Identification (IAI). This prestigious conference was hosted at the INTERPOL Headquarters in Lyon, and you can read more about it here.
31 October 2016
Many thanks to Sue Pope and Mike Scott-Ham of Principal Forensic Services. Their Expert Witness Training course last week was a valuable opportunity for the INTREPID fellows to gain some understanding of the experience of giving evidence in a courtroom and responding to cross-examination.
25 October 2016
Another award has been received by one of our INTREPID fellow. Jessica Lam received third place for her poster at the EU IAI Conference, located at the Interpol HQ in Lyon. Congratulations to Jessica for her success.
20 October 2016
We are pleased to announce that INTREPID fellow Alex Smyth has been awarded two prizes at the Australia and New Zealand Forensic Science Society Conference, namely Best Poster Presentation and Highly Commended Oral Presentation. Take a look at Alex receiving his awards as well as enjoying the Gala Dinner with three of his INTREPID colleagues…
05 October 2016
Our partners at the University of Lausanne are offering a full-time forensic science PhD opportunity. Why not take a look at the advert, linked here?
31 August 2016
INTREPID fellows Françisco Goncalves and Annelies Voorhaar, delivering a well-received lecture at the University of Leicester’s English Language Teaching Unit.
01 August 2016
We are excited to welcome Alex Murphy to the INTREPID team as our new administrator. Alex will be working alongside Tom for the next two weeks as the handover progresses, before taking over Tom’s administration duties for the remainder of the project.
09 June 2016
Congratulations to one of our fellows, Jessica Lam, who came in the top five during the PhDepictions photo competition at the University of Leicester’s Postgraduate Research Festival! Jessica’s photo was chosen as an exceptional representation of her research into using scanning technology to visually render skeletal remains.
08 June 2016
Issue 2 (Spring 2016) of Frontier, the University of Leicester’s Postgraduate Research Magazine, is now available here. Our very own Francisco Gonçalves is one of the editors, so check it out.
18 May 2016
We are happy that two of our research fellows, Thalassa Valkenburg and Annelies Voorhaar, are on the board of the recently created Forensic Science Society. This is an excellent opportunity for them to be involved in outreach activities and networking alongside other students. You can read more about the society here: www.leicesterunion.com/groups/forensic-science
07 April 2016
We are pleased to announce that we will be attending Forensics Europe Expo again this year. Find out more here.
04 April 2016
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, one of our most eminent scientists, is giving a talk with the Royal Society of Biology at the Science Museum. Book a place here.
19 February 2016
Francisco Gonçalves (Project 6) has been appointed by Frontier Magazine as the editor for the Social Sciences field, congratulations Francisco!
11 February 2016
Dr John Bond, a member of the INTREPID Forensics Programme team recently appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, talking about forensic science:
Difference Between DNA and Fingerprint EvidenceCould the Making A Murderer case be solved by this simple water bottle explanation?
Posted by Sunday Brunch on Saturday, 6 February 2016
03 February 2016
Free online course, Forensic Science and Criminal Justice, offered by the University of Leicester starts 8th February. Read the full press release here.
03 December 2015
Check out our media page, we’ve added a gallery of pictures from the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences recent Postgraduate Symposium in Manchester.
25 November 2015
We are delighted to welcome the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences to the INTREPID Forensics programme as an associate partner. We look forward to working with you over the next couple of years!
05 November 2015
INTREPID Forensics are at the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences Postgraduate Research Symposium today. If you see us there say hi!
01 October 2015
Most of our INTREPID Forensics researchers have now been here a full year (Jessica and Marwan have been here 10 months)! The most impressive part is that they are all still sane. The majority of them have passed their upgrades to full PhD students and the rest are close behind. Congratulations to all of them.
29 September 2015
Our Project Coordinator Dr Lisa Smith, has launched a new project to investigate alternative ways of collecting DNA evidence from victims of sexual violence in conflict zones and displaced communities, including refugee camps, read the press report here!
01 July 2015
We have released our second newsletter! You can check it out online here!
19 May 2015
We’ve made, and are continuing to make a few minor updates to our website as well as one quite major update. We now have a publications page in the menu bar where we will be hosting posters, journal articles and anything else the INTREPID Forensics research fellows publish during the course of their PhD studies. There are currently lots of interesting posters to look at so go and check it out!
7 May 2015
Forensic pathologist, Professor Guy Rutty, receives prestigious appointment. Click here for the full story.
18 April 2015
Join the INTREPID Forensics team at the Forensics Europe Expo, at London Olympia 21-22 April.
5 March 2015
Congratulations to Professor Sarah Hainsworth, who was awarded the Andrew H. Payne Jr Special Achievement Award by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Engineering Sciences Section! Read more here.
27 February 2015
Join us at the University of Leicester for the New Frontiers in Forensics event – 15 April, 2015 – hosted by the Alec Jeffreys Forensic Science Institute. There is no charge for this event, but registration is required here.
19 February 2015
We are very proud to announce that one of our researchers Francisco Valente Gonçalves has won the prize for top poster presentation at the University of Leicester’s English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) Research Festival. Congratulations Francisco!
05 February 2015
It has been announced that Dr Lisa Smith, Project Coordinator of INTREPID Forensics, is to become a member of the Council of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. The Society is the UK professional body for forensic sciences. You can read more about it on the University of Leicester website. You can read more about the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences by visiting their webpage.
05 January 2015
Firstly we would like to with everyone a Happy New Year, I bet the New Year’s resolutions of our INTREPID Forensics students are quite a bit different to the ones they had last year! Secondly we would like to welcome our two new starters Marwan El Khoury and Jessica Lam, who finish off our cohort of 10 students. As you can see below they have already visited when they came to the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences Autumn Conference but now they are here to stay. Keep an eye out for their ‘first reaction’ blogs in the coming month.
18 December 2014
Criminal justice and forensic science showcased in new publication. Drs John Bond and Lisa Smith from the University of Leicester’s Department of Criminology have published a new book on forensic science techniques in crime scene investigation. You can read more and find out how to order HERE.
21 November 2014
INTREPID Forensics goes international with Portuguese news coverage looking at Francisco and his project. You can read the original article HERE or if you can’t read Portuguese you can read a rough translation HERE.
20 November 2014
Back on the 7-8 November the whole INTREPID Forensics group were together for the first time at the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences Autumn Conference:
From left to right: Dr Lisa Smith (Project Coordinator), Thalassa Valkenburg, Jessica Lam, Etienne Pillin, Maurits Beltgens, Marwan El Khoury, Silke Jensen, Francisco Goncalves, Alex Smyth, Annelies Voorhaar, Sofia Mirmigkou, Tom Horton (Project Administrator).
The conference was the official launch of the INTREPID Forensics Programme and the feedback was really positive. The group heard some excellent talks at the Postgraduate Symposium, you can take a look at what our researchs thought about the conference over on their blogs, just follow the ‘Research Blogs’ link at the top of the page.
06 November 2014
One of our project partners, the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, is currently advertising a PhD opportunity in Forensic interpretation and comparative handwriting examinations. You can read more about their School of Criminal Justice, a summary of the position, and required qualifications here.
04 November 2014
The INTREPID Forensics programme are proud sponsors of this week’s Postgraduate Symposium, being held as part of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences Autumn Conference, 7-8 November at the University of Leicester. Click here for details about the symposium and conference.
01 August 2014
We have now appointed candidates for all projects after a series of highly competitive interview. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone we interviewed, it wasn’t an easy job deciding on the successful candidates as there were so many excellent interviews. Keep an eye on the project pages which we will be updating soon with a bit of information about our new PhD fellows.
01 July 2014
All projects have now been shortlisted and successful candidates have been invited to interview, we look forward to speaking to you soon. Apologies to anyone not shortlisted, there were a lot of really excellent applications and unfortunately we can’t shortlist everyone.
22 May 2014
Applications are now closed for our 10 PhD research projects. A big thank you to everyone who applied, we received just under 300 applications from 58 unique countries! We will be in touch with shortlisted candidates in due course.
06 May 2014
A big welcome to Tom Horton who has officially joined the INTREPID Forensics team as research administrator. Tom has already had some involvement with the project as the designer of the website, which he will be maintaining as one of his administrative duties. He will also be supporting the project supervisors and PhD students once they have been appointed.
07 April 2014
We are pleased to announce that not only is our website now live, we are also currently recruiting 10 fully funded PhD (Early Stage Researcher) Fellows for various Forensic Science research projects for October 2014 start dates.
Find out more over on our PhD Positions page.
