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形式，可用于破案。虽然肥沃，但土壤可以有非常特殊的性质，可以确定准确的地理来源。土壤的许多化学和生物成分甚至在微观上也不同，因此不能放心地用它们来比较从不同地点采集的样本。然而，土壤中最常见的矿物是石英；它能在地质时期存活下来，并能抵抗大多数化学和机械环境过程。然而，这样的存活确实是以石英颗粒为代价的。碎裂、凹痕和蚀刻发生在每个石英颗粒的表面，导致了反映该颗粒地质历史的独特图案。由于石英非常常见，而且与其他土壤和沉积物相比，沉积物或土壤的历史可能有很大的不同，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。我们的获奖工作(2007年法医科学学会颁发的P W Allen奖)涉及石英颗粒表面纹理分析的法医应用，为英国提供了一个从法医案件工作期间采集的土壤样本中提取的胚胎数据库。为了加强这项技术的能力，这个数据库需要在英国境外开发。在过去的十年里，澳大利亚和新西兰的学术界在法医孢粉学和植物学方面走在了前列，开发了这项技术，并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在澳大利亚法医情况下作为一种分析形式的可行性，这在法医背景下迄今尚未尝试过。此外，另一个目的是评估其提供补充、独立和佐证分析的能力，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联系，犯罪活动越来越多地跨越国际边界。法医地学(土壤和沉积物在法医调查中的应用)的未来在于它有能力应对犯罪侦查的国际性，这使得该数据库的开发变得至关重要。具体来说，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其他生物和化学分析形式的互补性，以进行西澳大利亚州的地质法医调查。第二，跟进我们刚刚与澳大利亚联邦警察法医实验室的James Robertson博士和堪培拉大学的Chris Lennard博士一起开展的一个SEED项目，该项目涉及将这一技术应用于东澳大利亚的地理法医情况的可能性。将开展更多的实地工作，并将就这一领域今后的研究方向进行讨论。第三，这一种子项目的初步发现将作为论文在墨尔本举行的第19届国际法医学研讨会上发表。这次会议将提供在国际一级传播我们的研究成果的机会，并提供与国际法医科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结构分析在国际范围内的适用性成为可能。

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.