NFI’s Zeno Geradts in the running for prestigious international prize
Zeno Geradts, forensic scientist at the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), has been nominated by the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) for the Adelaide medal awarded by the International Association of Forensic Science (IAFS). The prize is presented every three years to a forensic scientist who has made an exceptional contribution to progress in the field. The candidates are nominated by international organisations. Geradts was pleasantly surprised by the nomination: “I wasn’t expecting it. You have to be put forward by an international forensic network for this award. I am very honoured that I was chosen.”
Professor Zeno Geradts works as a forensic examiner for the Digital and Biometric Traces (DBS) division of the NFI. He is also a professor by special appointment in Forensic Data Science at the University of Amsterdam. He is one of the initiators of the AI4forensics research lab, which focuses on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in forensics. Annemieke de Vries, Director of Science and Technology at the NFI, is proud of Geradts’ nomination. She considers it an honour to be put forward by the European institutes: “The European scientific professional field is large. As well as being an outstanding and highly active scientist, Zeno is also a connector in the international forensic research field. He brings people from different disciplines within forensic science together and so helps push the field of forensics forwards.”
Connector
Geradts joined the NFI in 1991 as a scientist specialising in toolmarks. His work involved collecting images of shoe prints in order to compare them digitally. As a young scientist, he previously received an award and a posting for two and half months with the Japanese National Police. During his PhD research into pattern recognition in forensic databases, he launched the ‘forensic.to’ website in 1999. The website made knowledge accessible internationally and provided links to other sites focused on the different disciplines within forensic science. Geradts attended annual forensic science conferences and actively participated in various working groups in the area of digital research. He was responsible for establishing guidelines and standards for the digital arena. As part of his professorship, he teaches the forensic scientists of the future and works on international research projects with Master’s and PhD students. Geradts combines his work as a forensic examiner and his teaching duties with numerous roles within ENFSI, the Netherlands Register of Court Experts and the American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS), culminating in his becoming the first non-North American president of the AAFS in 2019-2020.
Deepfakes
De Vries put Geradts’ name forward to ENFSI, together with Erwin van Eijk, head of the Digital and Biometric Traces division: “Zeno is tireless in his work to advance the field, always drawing on innovative new technologies and ideas. For example, in the area of deepfakes”, says De Vries. She laughs: “When introducing themselves at international conferences, many of our colleagues at the NFI have received the response ‘You’re from the NFI? Do you know Zeno?’ That demonstrates his level of involvement in and influence on the forensic field. I am pleased for him that he has been nominated and, who knows, he might win the award: I’d be delighted if he did.”
Award
The next IAFS meeting will be held from 20 to 24 November in Sydney, Australia. We will then find out whether Geradts has won the award.