School of Chemical and Physical Sciences brochures Forensic Science brochure 2019 | Page 3

FORENSIC SCIENCE | 3
Welcome
Welcome to Forensic Science at Keele University. This brochure is intended
to tell you more about the undergraduate degree programmes we offer and
what it is like to study Forensic Science at Keele.
But don’t just take our word for it. Find out also what some of our graduates
feel about their Keele experience, read what career choices they have made
and how their Forensic Science degree from Keele has prepared them for life
after university.
Forensic Science is often defined as the application
of science to the work of the courts of law. In many
people’s minds this leads to a focus on crime scene
investigation which, though a very important part of
the forensic process, does not fully provide a true
picture of what the forensic scientist actually does
and what knowledge and skills you need to be
a professional forensic scientist.
The forensic discipline embraces a wide range
of scientific topics, many of which are based on
analytical science – the science of measurement,
characterising materials, usually at the molecular
level, and determining what is in a sample and how
much of various components are there.
Such scientific investigations are applied to physical
evidence - that is materials found at crime scenes
or associated with potentially illegal activities;
examples include explosives’ residues, drugs,
inks, glass fragments, fire accelerants, paints,
fibres and hairs. In practice this means using
microscopy, chromatography, spectroscopy
and related specialist techniques which are also
fundamental to some laboratory work in chemistry,
biology and geology, to examine forensic materials.
Forensic science also includes the science of
pattern matching as applied to fingerprints,
shoe-marks, tool-marks and tyre-marks as well
as a range of other specialist areas of study which
are relevant to forensic investigation such as
pathology, anthropology, blood-spatter analysis,
ballistics, geosciences and digital sciences.
So what makes forensic science distinctive
and why is a degree in forensic science different
to studying other sciences?
Firstly, forensic science is a broadly-based
discipline incorporating many aspects of the
core sciences so if you enjoy working across
several areas of science then forensic science
may be for you.
Secondly, it is problem-based where the problem
is explaining the physical evidence, and so the
scientist has to be able to devise and apply
methods of experimental investigation and analysis
appropriate to each individual situation.
Thirdly, the forensic scientist needs to understand
the context of the case in order to properly interpret
the experimental results and communicate their
meaning to the court. This also implies that
the forensic scientist must be able to explain their
scientific work in a clear and understandable way
to non-scientists such as those working in the court.
These generic attributes of the forensic scientist
are also strongly relevant to the analytical scientist
working in business and industry where the
problems relate to commercial products, their
development, production and quality control;
for example, in the environmental, pharmaceutical
or chemical products sectors. For this reason
studying a forensic science degree with a strong
emphasis on analytical science will prepare you well
for a wide range of science-based careers outside
of the forensic business sector, as well as within it.
Dr David Thompson
Programme Director, Forensic Science
keele.ac.uk/forensic