15 Aug 2019

‘Citizen Jurors’ sought to influence the future of forensic science research

Members of the public are being sought to help and support the way in which the University of Dundee’s world-leading forensic science research is planned, conducted and communicated. The University’s Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) is looking for people from in and around the Dundee area to sign up for its newly established ‘Citizens’ Jury’. Members of the Citizens' Jury will work with LRCFS scientists helping to ensure that the communication of forensic science to the public is understandable. They will also have the opportunity to test and frame som...

14 Aug 2019

Student reveals the face of Iron Age female druid

A University of Dundee student has revealed the face of one of Scotland’s oldest druids, believed to have been more than 60 years old when she died during the Iron Age. Karen Fleming, an MSc Forensic Art & Facial Identification student, has recreated the head of a woman believed to have been from Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis. The 3D wax reconstruction depicts a toothless female, nicknamed ‘Hilda’, believed to have been well into her 60s, an impressive feat itself. Karen says Hilda, although thousands of years old, displays many physical attributes that remain recognisable today. ...

12 Aug 2019

‘A Russian invasion forced me into Clearing’

Drahuna receives her degree from HM the Queen Mother in the Caird Hall, 1973. Tens of thousands of soon-to-be school leavers use Clearing every summer to gain a place at a top institution, but very few are forced into it after being stranded in a foreign country during their summer holidays. This was the case for University of Dundee graduate Drahuna Dutton who was visiting friends in Bristol in August 1968 when the Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Drahuna, who would later receive her degree from HM the Queen Mother (who was Chancellor of the University of Dundee at ...

9 Aug 2019

Tuberculosis epidemic causes lasting damage to lungs

New research from the University of Dundee has revealed that the worldwide tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is leaving a legacy of chronic lung disease. Scientists from the University, in partnership with the Respiratory Research Network of India, have reported results from a study of more than 2000 Indian patients with evidence of permanent lung damage. Researchers have found that more than 1/3 of patients who are successfully cured of TB with antibiotics developed permanent lung damage which, in the worst cases, results in large holes in the lungs called cavities and widening of the airways called bronchiect...

5 Aug 2019

Facial reconstruction is head of the table

A facial reconstruction of a historic Fife man is joining a modern day family for dinner thanks to the skills of a University of Dundee student. Rachel McGarvey, an MSc Forensic Art student at the University’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, has painstakingly recreated the visage of Archie Flockhart, a well-known character on the streets of 19th century Dunfermline. With his skull having been preserved as part of the phrenology collection at Edinburgh University following his death in 1877, Archie’s face has been recreated as part of this year’s Masters Show, one of S...