The CSFS is pleased and honoured to welcome the following keynote and plenary speakers.
Keynote Speaker
Shari Forbes
Professor Shari Forbes holds a Canada 150 Research Chair in Forensic Thanatology at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR). She is the Director of the UQTR facility for Research in Experimental and Social Thanatology / Recherche en Sciences Thanatologiques Expérimentales et Sociale, the first human decomposition facility to open in Canada. She was formerly an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. She established and directed the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER), the first human decomposition facility in Australia. Prior to this, she was the founding Director of the Forensic Science program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology where she also held a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Decomposition Chemistry.
Prof. Forbes’ research investigates the chemical processes that occur in soft tissue decomposition. Her current research focuses on identifying an accurate chemical profile of decomposition odour using multidimensional chromatography. Her research assists police canine units to improve their training protocols for cadaver-detection dogs deployed to forensic and mass disaster investigations. Her expertise is regularly requested to assist law enforcement with locating and recovering buried or concealed evidence, including human remains, drugs, weapons, and currency.
Presentation Title
Bodies of Knowledge: The Importance of Human Decomposition Facilities
Plenary Speakers
Jonathan W. Hak, Q.C.
Jonathan W. Hak, Q.C. is a barrister and solicitor, adjunct associate law professor, law lecturer, and PhD Candidate. He was a Crown Prosecutor with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service for over 30 years and has extensive experience leading and challenging expert evidence in the courtroom. Jonathan has been teaching law since 1989, teaching extensively in Canada, US, UK, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Since 2006, he has taught Courtroom Testimony for Expert Witnesses to a broad array of experts across North America. He obtained his formal legal education in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom (Cambridge). He is currently a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands where he is focusing on the use of non-textual evidence in international criminal prosecutions.
Presentation Title
The Pedagogical Expert Witness: Teaching Complex Science in the Courtroom
Bruce Budowle
Dr. Bruce Budowle received a Ph.D. in Genetics in 1979 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. From 1983-2009, Dr. Budowle was employed at the FBI Laboratory Division and carried out research, development, and validation of methods for forensic biological analyses. He has published more than 680 articles, made more than 800 presentations, and testified in well over 300 criminal cases in the areas of molecular biology, population genetics, statistics, quality assurance, and forensic biology. He has been a chair and member of the Scientific Working Group on DNA Methods, Chair of the DNA Commission of the ISFG, and a member of the DNA Advisory Board. He was one of the architects of the CODIS National DNA database. Some of Dr. Budowle’s efforts also are in counter terrorism, to include in identification of victims from mass disasters and efforts involving microbial forensics and bioterrorism. Dr. Budowle was an advisor to New York State in the effort to identify the victims from the WTC attack. In the area of microbial forensics, Dr. Budowle has been the chair of the Scientific Working Group on Microbial Genetics and Forensics, with the mission to set QA guidelines, develop criteria for biologic and user databases, set criteria for a National Repository, and develop forensic genomic applications. Currently Dr. Budowle is the Director of the Center for Human Identification and Professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Texas. His current efforts focus on the areas of human forensic identification, microbial forensics, and emerging infectious disease with substantial effort in genomics and next generation sequencing. He is a Commissioner on the Texas Forensic Science Commission and a member or the Texas Governor’s Sexual Assault Survivor’s Task Force.
Presentation Title
Advances in Forensic DNA Technologies
Christophe Champod
Christophe Champod received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. (summa cum laude) both in Forensic Science, from the University of Lausanne, in 1990 and 1995 respectively. Remained in academia until holding the position of assistant professor in forensic science. From 1999 to 2003, he led the Interpretation Research Group of the Forensic Science Service (UK), before taking a full professorship position at the School of Criminal Justice (ESC) of the University of Lausanne. He is in charge of education and research on identification methods (interpretation of DNA, facial images, fingerprints, toolmarks, footwear marks and firearms) and has the privilege to work with a group of 20 PhD students. The research carried out by his group is mainly devoted to the inferential aspects associated with forensic identification techniques.
Presentation Title
The ENFSI Guideline for Evaluative Reporting: Origin, Current Status and Implementation
Key Dates
Call for abstracts opens – January 23, 2023
Registration opens – January 30, 2023
Call for abstracts closes – April 1, 2023
Abstract outcomes – May 1, 2023
Conference dates – Jun 12-15, 2023