School of Chemical and Physical Sciences brochures Forensic Science brochure 2019 | Page 25

FORENSIC SCIENCE | 25
Student spotlight
“I graduated from Keele University
in 2012 after an amazing experience.
I spent 4 years at Keele and learnt
so much in that short amount of
time. Keele provides a brilliant
atmosphere; being a campus
university it has everything that
you need on campus makes it the
transition to university life easier
and enjoyable. Also, the nightlife
was fantastic and provided new
things whenever possible, it couldn’t
be faulted.
Forensic Science is such a broad area
of science, and is ever expanding,
so I was grateful to the variety of
topics we covered at Keele. One of
the big advantages was the extensive
time spent in the laboratory getting
hands on experience with a range of
analytical instrumentation, which
related to the theory topics being
taught in lectures. It was very helpful
to be able to put lecture material
into practice and this enabled me to
learn the information much more
thoroughly. I was impressed by the
amount of laboratory time we were
given and the variety of instruments
available.
After leaving Keele I managed to
get a job as a science technician at a
high school initially, where I think
my extensive laboratory experience
definitely helped me to secure the
position. However, in June of 2013
I succeeded in gaining a job as a
forensic scientist within a drugs
department.
I definitely feel that the degree
course I studied at Keele provided
me with an excellent advantage
when applying for this job due to
the amount of instrumentation we
were able to use and the breadth of
information we were taught.
My course had a module devoted to
the analysis of drugs of abuse which
definitely gave me the information I
needed to get through my interview.
It taught me many techniques that
are used within the forensic field
such as TLC, GC-MS and HPLC
which I now use on a daily basis
within my job.
I have been a forensic scientist now
for over 4 and a half years and was
recently promoted to a Reporting
Forensic Scientist in April. I now
write statements on cases that have
been examined and are sent out to
police forces across the country. I
now work more closely with police
officers and police staff to ensure
that they receive all the information
they need on current cases they are
working on.
I feel very grateful to have found a
job in my chosen field and I know my
degree at Keele was definitely worth
all the effort I put into it.”
Carlie Whiting
BSc Forensic Science
with Criminology
Reporting Forensic Scientist
at Key Forensic Services
keele.ac.uk/forensic