NFI CEO Reinout Woittiez joins advisory council of American academic forensic consortium
The Chief Executive Officer of the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), Reinout Woittiez, has joined the advisory council of CSAFE, the new American academic consortium for forensic science, as an adviser.
“This prestigious appointment emphasises the strong forensic links between the Netherlands and America and demonstrates the extent to which our contribution to the forensic community is valued internationally”, Woittiez says about his appointment.
Strengthening forensic science
In the United States, work is underway on numerous fronts to boost forensic science and the scientific validation of forensic investigations in criminal cases. One of the key triggers for this was the report ‘Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States’, published by the National Academy of Sciences in 2009.
It included a recommendation calling for a better scientific basis for forensic evidence in criminal cases. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has so far been one of the leading American organisations involved in the various initiatives to improve scientific quality.
CSAFE
Alongside the setting up of a national quality network (OSAC), CSAFE was also established. This consortium is made up of four US universities: Iowa State University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Virginia and the University of California, Irvine.
CSAFE stands for Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence and has a strong focus on the use of forensic statistics in ensuring that evidence is properly reported and any uncertainty clearly identified.
“The NFI’s role in CSAFE not only makes a valuable contribution to CSAFE’s development, but also further enhances collaboration with forensic institutes and academic institutions across the world, and especially in the United States”, says Woittiez.