Forensic students are getting their hands dirty

Final year research projects are an important part of undergraduate chemistry courses, allowing students to enhance transferable skills in teamworking, problem solving and presentations, at the same time as learning valuable practical skills.

Chemistry with Forensic Analysis is a popular undergraduate BSc degree course at the University of Reading, UK. However an increase in student numbers due in part to the popularity of TV programs like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, coupled with a lack of teaching staff, has meant that individual final year research projects in forensic analysis have become impossible.

In 2007, the department was awarded funding to set up a series of team mini projects to be carried out in the third and final year of the course. The funding came from the Higher Education Academy’s CETL-AURS (Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning – Advancing Undergraduate Research Skills) that is based at the University of Reading. The mini projects let students experience research in forensic analysis first hand, obtaining an in depth understanding of modern analytical techniques, while developing their teamworking skills and undertaking independent open ended study.

Matthew Almond explores how these mini projects were designed and gets insight from two students who worked on the projects.