Job profile: Forensic scientist

Forensic scientists locate, examine and prepare traces of physical evidence for use in courts of law.

What is the work like?

They use the principles of biology, chemistry and maths to obtain and analyse evidence from a variety of sources, including blood and other body fluids, hairs, textile fibres, glass fragments and tyre marks.

As a forensic scientist, the main focus of your work would be looking for evidence to link a suspect with a crime scene. However, your duties could vary depending on your specialism and may include some or all of the following:

- blood grouping and DNA profiling
- analysing fluid and tissue samples for traces of drugs and poisons
- identifying, comparing and matching various materials
- examining splash patterns and the distribution of particles
- analysing handwriting, signatures, ink and paper (known as questioned documents)
- providing expert advice on explosives, firearms and ballistics
- researching and developing new technologies
- recovering data from computers, mobile phones and other electronic equipment (known as 'electronic casework')
- attending crime scenes, such as a murder or fire
- giving impartial scientific evidence in court (if you have been trained as a 'reporting officer')
- supervising assistant forensic scientists in the lab.

You would use a variety of techniques and equipment to examine evidence, ranging from photography to infra-red, ultraviolet-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy.

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