The University of Leicester has many years of experience of both forensic science research and teaching in a whole range of different disciplines, from disciplines you might possibly associate with universities, such as the department of genetics, where in 1984, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys invented DNA fingerprinting, but other departments as well, like chemistry, forensic pathology, physics, engineering. So there’s a lot of different departments, both those natural science ones and social science ones like criminology and psychology, where we have experts who work day in, day out in forensic science. So across the whole range of the criminal justice system, the University of Leicester has experience and skills in those disciplines.

I really enjoy teaching forensic science and criminal justice related topics for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I think it’s a subject that naturally inspires students, and they’re always quite engaged with it. Because I guess everybody loves a good mystery. But the second reason is that students tend to come into these courses with lots of preconceived notions about what forensic science is really like, because maybe they’ve seen it on TV or in the movies. So I really quite enjoy dispelling some of those myths and teaching people how it actually works. And also, raising their awareness of some of the issues that surround the use of science in the criminal justice system.

So I think those are the two reasons why I love teaching this subject. This MOOC will give you a really good insight into not only what forensic science is, and the history of it, but then how it’s used day to day by the police and the criminal justice system to actually prosecute offenders and detect crimes. So it’s more than just what the techniques are. It’s more than just the CSI aspect of it. It’s about how this is used in real life, and how you can use this to solve crime. One of the things you’ll have a chance to do is debate contemporary issues in forensic science.

For instance, there’s no question that DNA fingerprinting is a great asset to the police when they’re investigating crime. However, national DNA databases do also raise lots of privacy and ethics issues, which you’ll have a chance to debate during the course. In addition, we’ll consider how forensic science is portrayed in the popular media. So if you’ve ever wondered whether shows like CSI are realistic, you’ll have a chance to explore that in more detail and come to your own conclusions about whether they’re purely for entertainment, or whether they are based in reality. And finally, the course will finish off by looking at the future of forensic science, and where the discipline is going in the near future.

I think the discipline of forensic science is a really great career. Because at the end of the day, you are helping to lock the bad guys up. There’s a real positive outcome from this, in that you can be satisfied that the results of your work, whether it’s research, it’s actually undertaking casework for the police, or it’s teaching the next generation, is all helping towards making our community safer. And that’s a real positive career to have.