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

与西澳大学、堪培拉大学学者的合作会议以及在澳大利亚墨尔本举行的新研究国际会议演示。

• 批准号: EP/G026718/1
• 负责人: Ruth Morgan
• 金额: $ 1.22万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FG026718%2F1
• 关键词: Collaboration; meetings; academics; UWA; Canberra

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.

土壤无处不在，因此它通常是可用于破案的重要物证形式。尽管土壤丰富，但它具有非常特殊的特性，可以识别精确的地理来源。土壤的许多化学和生物成分甚至在微观尺度上也存在差异，因此不能自信地使用它们来比较从不同地点采集的样品。然而，土壤中最常见的矿物质是石英。它能够在地质年代中幸存下来，并且能够抵抗大多数化学和机械环境过程。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都会出现划痕、压痕和蚀刻，从而形成反映该颗粒地质历史的独特图案。由于石英非常常见，而且沉积物或土壤的历史与其他土壤和沉积物相比差异很大，这些表面特征提供了不同地理区域之间非常独特的比较，因此在法医调查中非常重要。我们的获奖作品（法医科学学会 2007 年 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源自法医案例工作期间采集的土壤样本的胚胎数据库。为了增强该技术的能力，该数据库需要在英国境外开发。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，既开发了该技术，又为其应用和使用提供了证据。希望与许多澳大利亚学者和法医从业者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分析形式的可行性，迄今为止尚未在法医背景下进行过尝试。此外，进一步的目标是评估其提供补充性、独立性和佐证性分析的能力，以补充澳大利亚现有的地理法证证据分析形式。我们的世界正变得越来越相互联系，犯罪也越来越多地跨国界进行。法医地球科学（土壤和沉积物在法医调查中的应用）的未来在于其对犯罪侦查的国际性质做出反应的能力，这使得该数据库的开发至关重要。具体来说，3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项技术，并与他们就未来的合作研究项目进行讨论。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西澳大利亚地质法医学调查的其他生物和化学形式分析的互补性。其次，为了跟进我们刚刚与 James Robertson 博士（澳大利亚联邦警察法医实验室）和 Chris Lennard 博士（堪培拉大学）开展的种子项目，该项目涉及将该技术应用于澳大利亚东部地理法医学情况的潜力。将进行额外的实地考察，并就该领域未来研究的方向进行讨论。第三，该种子项目的初步研究结果将作为论文在墨尔本举行的第十九届国际法医学研讨会上发表。这次会议将提供在国际层面传播我们的研究结果的机会，并提供与国际法医学界会面和讨论的机会。预计新建立的关系将使未来研究石英颗粒表面纹理分析在国际范围内的适用性成为可能。