16 February 2004

Opening a centre for forensic anthropology

The UK's first undergraduate course in forensic anthropology is being launched at the University of Dundee next week (Monday 16 February) by Michael Portillo MP who will represent the International Commission on Missing Persons.

The course will provide four years of study exploring essential human anatomy and specialised areas of bone study in a medico-legal context. The aim of this course is to teach students how to apply this knowledge to the investigation of the deceased with the ultimate aim of establishing their identity.

These skills are in high demand both in this country to assist police with their investigations and internationally to assist with war crime investigations or issues of human rights in places such as Kosovo and Bosnia. It is a subject that is also core to the successful identification of the victims of mass disasters whether by terrorist activity, accident or natural origins. Until now, the detailed training necessary to become a forensic anthropology practitioner and expert has been sadly lacking according to Sue Black, Professor of Forensic Anthropology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee.

Sue has been on many missions to war torn countries and was awarded an OBE in 2001 for her services to forensic anthropology in Kosovo. While she was working there she became increasingly concerned at the general lack of basic knowledge in the students that had been sent to assist her. Whilst their theory was basically sound in bone anatomy they tended to have limited practical experience and a lack of depth of knowledge necessary for confirmation of identity when the remains are represented by more than bones.

She explains: "Until now, training in forensic anthropology has generally been via a one year taught masters programme that centres very heavily on bone anatomy, but forensic anthropology requires a full understanding of the soft tissue that surrounds those bones and an anatomy department offers the ideal facilities and resources to provide the necessary training capabilities that have been missing until now. Dundee is one of the few UK Universities, placed in the Guardian’s top ten universities in anatomy teaching, to have retained traditional teaching methods in anatomy. This has proved to be the ideal setting for training the next generation of forensic anthropologists."

Sue explains: "We are establishing a centre of excellence here in Dundee for forensic anthropology and other specialised areas of forensic research, development and training. We will be the only University in the UK to offer such specialised and intensive training and we believe that this University's name will become synonymous with excellence in this critical field of study and training. Forensic anthropology is just the first subject that will be offered and it is anticipated that many other areas will be developed in time."

The University of Dundee is set to change the face of forensic anthropology training in the UK and is now recruiting the first cohort of students who will commence their studies this autumn. This is a highly selective course with a restricted number of places ensuring that the ratio of teacher to student is maximised. Dundee is aiming to train the next generation of high quality professional practitioners and this is crucial for the judicial standing of the subject. A variety of postgraduate courses in Human Identification are planned for the future, ensuring that the current cohort of students will have many options to continue their education into more specialised areas of human identification. As Sue has said, "It is a sad indictment of our modern society that there is an increasing demand for the services of those who are able to identify the human and so return their name".

Michael Portillo will be joined by Alan Kershaw from the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners who has been supportive of the need to provide quality dedicated forensic training. Representatives from the police and the Crown Office with whom Sue and her colleagues have been working closely to plan and develop the courses will attend the opening.

By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk