CLHC and NFI present first Dutch Forensic Research Agenda

News item | 26-10-2023 | 00:00

Developments in the world of forensics are moving at a rapid pace. New types of crime call for new forensic knowledge and methods. Automation, digitalisation and data-driven working offer huge opportunities to conduct faster, better and more forensic analysis. Dozens of scientists, forensic examiners and professionals from the criminal justice systems have helped write or contributed to the research agenda.

Guide

The agenda seeks to guide those scientific and technological developments, in order to further increase the impact of forensic analysis. “Criminals are using new techniques to conceal their activities from the authorities. In response, we need to develop new forensic methods, otherwise our work will no longer be relevant in the future. Take the latest crypto phones, for example, and the rapid development of deepfakes, which are now barely recognisable by the naked eye”, says Annemieke de Vries, Director of Science and Technology at the NFI and joint initiator of the research agenda, together with the directors of the CLHC. At the same time, scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations continuously provide new opportunities for forensic analysis. “To keep up, you need to keep moving forwards. New technologies can answer different questions”, says De Vries.

Money for forensic analysis

The Dutch Forensic Research Agenda includes the most important developments for all the forensic science disciplines, with the exception of the forensic medicine disciplines, for which a separate research agenda has previously been drawn up. The new research agenda is designed to inspire potential funders of scientific research and motivate them to free up resources for forensic science in the Netherlands, says Arian van Asten, professor at the University of Amsterdam and one of the two directors of the CLHC: “Currently, we still have to compete with established fields of research in fundamental science, such as physics, chemistry and biology, for the funding of research projects. The reality is that the academic resources available for forensic science are generally limited as a result.” Van Asten hopes that the research agenda will bring about a change in that regard: “The goal is to stimulate collaboration between academia, innovative companies and forensic practice.”

Five themes

Based on five interdisciplinary themes, the research agenda describes the most important scientific research directions in the forensic field for the next ten years.

• The first theme is ‘Finding, recovering and following trace evidence’. “This emphasises the importance of recovering the right trace evidence at a crime scene using the correct procedure before transporting it and investigating it in a robust manner”, says Maurice Aalders of the Amsterdam University Medical Centers, and the other director of the CLHC.
   
• The second theme is the ‘Ultimate forensic reconstruction’. This theme emphasises the fact that every criminal investigation ultimately revolves around an accurate reconstruction: ‘What happened and who were involved?’.
   
• The third theme is ‘Everyone, everywhere, everything, always’. The title was inspired by the Oscar-winning film ‘Everything. Everywhere. All at Once’. This theme is about mobile technologies, cloud data and advanced data analysis and the possibilities they offer to conduct more and more superfast forensic analyses on location.
   
• The fourth theme is called ‘AI and data science in forensic practice’ and is about the enormous potential of artificial intelligence and data analysis for virtually all forms of forensic investigation.
   
• The fifth and final theme is ‘Doing more with forensic information throughout the chain’ and sets out the potential for obtaining more information and insight about crime and the effectiveness of research methods by looking at forensic data across multiple cases.

Mix of science and practice

In most European countries, the applied forensic investigation is usually conducted by the police, whereas universities are primarily focused on more fundamental scientific research. With the NFI devoted to forensic research, the Netherlands holds a unique position in the world, says Annemieke de Vries: “At the NFI, science and practice come together. The link between science and practice is a driving force for innovation. Take the DNA analysis in a case in which a young man was allegedly kicked to death on the Spanish island of Majorca. This involved highly specialised research, with complex trace evidence. We could not have done that research if we at the NFI had not anticipated scientific developments years ago and worked closely with universities and fellow research institutes”, says De Vries.

CLHC anniversary

The research agenda was officially launched at the annual CLHC symposium, at which the tenth anniversary of the CLHC was also celebrated. The CLHC is the Netherlands centre for forensic and forensic medical science of the University of Amsterdam, named after Dutch forensics pioneer Co van Ledden Hulsebosch. Would you like to find out more about the CLHC? CLHC Symposium - Co van Ledden Hulsebosch Center