Collaboration meetings with academics at UWA, Canberra University and an international conference presentation of new research in Melboune, Australia.

土壤无处不在，因此它往往是一种重要的物证，可用于解决犯罪。虽然土壤多产，但它具有非常特殊的性质，可以确定精确的地理来源。即使在微观尺度上，土壤的许多化学和生物成分也各不相同，因此不能自信地将其用于对从不同地点采集的样本进行比较。然而，土壤中最常见的矿物质是石英;它在地质年代中存活下来，并且对大多数化学和机械环境过程具有抵抗力。然而，这种生存确实是以石英颗粒为代价的。每个石英颗粒的表面上都会出现斑点、凹痕和蚀刻，从而产生反映该颗粒地质历史的独特图案。由于石英是如此常见，而且与其他土壤和沉积物相比，沉积物或土壤的历史可能如此不同，这些表面特征在不同地理区域之间提供了非常独特的比较，因此在法医调查中非常重要。我们的获奖作品（2007年法医科学学会颁发的PW艾伦奖）涉及石英颗粒表面纹理分析的法医应用，为英格兰提供了一个胚胎数据库，该数据库来自法医案例工作期间采集的土壤样本。为了提高这项技术的能力，这个数据库需要开发超越联合王国的边界。在过去的十年中，澳大利亚和新西兰的学术界在法医孢粉学和植物学方面处于领先地位，既发展了技术，又为其应用和使用提供了证据。希望与一些澳大利亚学者和法医从业人员的合作将使我能够评估石英颗粒表面纹理分析作为澳大利亚法医情况下的一种分析形式的可行性，迄今为止还没有尝试在法医方面。此外，另一个目的是评估其提供补充性、独立性和确证性分析的能力，以补充澳大利亚现有的地质法医证据分析形式。我们的世界正变得越来越相互关联，犯罪越来越多地跨越国际边界。法医地球科学的未来（土壤和沉积物在法医调查中的应用）在于它能够对犯罪侦查的国际性质作出反应，这使得开发该数据库至关重要。具体而言，三个主要目标是：首先，向西澳大利亚大学犯罪研究中心的学者介绍这种技术，并与他们讨论未来的合作研究项目。希望该项目将利用广泛的专业知识来评估石英颗粒表面纹理分析与其他生物和化学形式的分析在西澳大利亚州的地质法医调查的互补性。第二，跟进我们刚与James Robertson博士（澳大利亚联邦警察局法医实验室）和Chris Lennard博士（堪培拉大学）开展的一个种子项目，该项目涉及将这种技术应用于澳大利亚东部地质法医情况的可能性。将开展更多的实地工作，并将讨论这一领域今后研究的方向。第三，该种子项目的初步研究结果将在墨尔本举行的第19届国际法医学研讨会上发表。这次会议将提供机会，在国际一级传播我们的调查结果，并提供机会，以满足和讨论与国际法医科学界。预计新锻造的关系将使未来的研究在国际范围内的石英颗粒表面纹理分析的适用性。

Soil is everywhere & it is therefore often an important form of physical evidence that can be used to solve a crime. Although prolific, soil can have very specific properties which can identify precise geographic sources. Many chemical and biological components of a soil vary even at the microscopic scale and they can not therefore be used confidently to make comparison between samples taken from different locations. However, the most common mineral in a soil is quartz; it survives through geological time and is resistant to most chemical and mechanical environmental processes. Such survival does however, come at a cost to the quartz grain.Scratches, indentations and etchings occur upon the surface of each quartz grain resulting in distinctive patterns which reflect the geological history of that grain. Because quartz is so common and because the history of a sediment or soil can be so varied in comparison to other soils and sediments, these surface features provide a very distinctive comparison between different geographical areas and thus are of great importance in forensic enquiry. Our prize winning work (The P W Allen award from the Forensic Science Society 2007) concerning the forensic application of quartz grain surface texture analysis provides an embryonic database for England derived from soil samples taken during forensic case work. To enhance the capabilities of this technique this database needs to be developed beyond the borders of the UK. In the last ten years, the academic community in Australia and New Zealand have lead the way in forensic palynology and botany, both developing the technique and providing evidence for its application and use. It is hoped that collaboration with a number of Australian academics and forensic practitioners will enable me to assess the viability of quartz grain surface texture analysis as a form of analysis in forensic situations in Australia which has hitherto not been attempted in a forensic context. In addition a further aim is to assess its ability to provide complementary, independent and corroborative analysis that complements the existing forms of analysis for geoforensic evidence in Australia. Our world is becoming progressively more interconnected and crime is increasingly being carried out across international borders. The future of forensic geoscience (the application of soils and sediments to forensic investigations) lies in its ability to respond to the international nature of crime detection making the development of this database crucial.Specifically, the 3 main objectives are: Firstly, to present this technique to academics at the Crime Research Centre, University of Western Australia, and to hold discussions with them concerning a future collaborative research project. It is hoped that this project will utilise a wide range of expertise to assess the complementarity of quartz grain surface texture analysis with other biological and chemical forms of analysis for geoforensic investigation in west Australia. Secondly, to follow up a seed project which we have just embarked on with Dr James Robertson (Forensic Laboratories of the Australian Federal Police) & Dr Chris Lennard (University of Canberra) concerning the potential for applying this technique to geoforensic situations in east Australia. Additional fieldwork will be carried out and discussions concerning the direction of future research in this area will be undertaken. Thirdly, the initial findings of this seed project will be presented as a paper at the 19th International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences in Melbourne. This conference will provide opportunities to disseminate our findings at an international level and present opportunities to meet and have discussions with the international forensic science community. It is expected that newly forged relationships will enable future research into the applicability of quartz grain surface texture analysis at an international scale.