• Question: why did you first get in to forensic ?? :D

    Asked by gibby13 to Richard, Anna, Craig, Shane, Sue on 17 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by amyk, connornauman.
    • Photo: Richard Case

      Richard Case answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi gibby13,

      It was a pure fluke…. and just for a job and an income to begin with.

      I got the job straight from doing my A-Levels… but I would recommend going to uni first.

      There were no real forensic tv shows on when I was growing up so I didn’t really know what it involved until I was actually doing the job.

      I would definitely recommend it as a career 🙂

    • Photo: Sue Carney

      Sue Carney answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I was fascinated by DNA first of all. From the moment I learnt at school about DNA’s structure and how it works, I knew I wanted to work in biology, preferably with DNA if I could.

      I did a genetics and microbiology degree because that had lots of information about DNA in it. After that I did some research work for a while, whilst I was at UMIST doing my masters degree. The research I did involved working on yeast cells (the type of yeast that can cause diseases & infections, not the yeast that we use to make bread) and looking for the parts of their DNA that controlled weak areas in their cell walls, since these might be good targets for anti-yeast drugs.

      It was only later that I saw in the New Scientist magazine that The Forensic Science Service (FSS) had vacancies for trainee forensic scientists. I applied and was successful. I started working for the FSS and started my training with them in 2001.

    • Photo: Anna Williams

      Anna Williams answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi gibby13,
      This is a bit similar to another question we’ve had. See: http://ias.im/54.88
      I always knew I wanted to do forensic science, because I wanted to be a detective and to find out the truth. This is true for all the other sciences of course, but I thought it sounded more exciting to be involved in investigating murders and serial killers and things like that! I also thought that, because I could deal with the nastier side of the science, like the dead and decomposing bodies, that I sort of had a duty to do it, to allow other people to do the less objectionable sciences!

    • Photo: Shane Pennington-Cooper

      Shane Pennington-Cooper answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi Gibby,

      I have always been fascinated about how forensic scientists find strong enough evidence to convict a criminal. Science has always been my passion through my entire life and I have always dissected information and analysed it ever since I was able to. I think bringing these skills together made me more passionate to carry out a career in FS

    • Photo: Craig McKenzie

      Craig McKenzie answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi Gibby13,

      I became a forensic scientist almost by accident. I was working abroad in another area of science as an analytical chemist and wanted to come back to Scotland for a while to be with family and friends that i grew up with.

      I was a chemist first – then a forensic chemist. I’m glad i took the job when the lab said they wanted me to work there as it really interesting applying all the things I had learnt before to forensic science investigations.

Comments

  • Photo: Sue

    Sue commented on :

    I was always fascinated by DNA from first learning about it at school. I knew that I wanted to work in the biological sciences, preferably with DNA, so that helped me decide which degree to do at university. After my degree I did some research work at UMIST. It was only after that, when I saw that the Forensic Science Service were recruiting that I decided to apply and was taken on as a trainee forensic scientist in body fluids and DNA. It was only later that I found out I could easily have been assigned to footwear rather than DNA. I think if that had happened, I wouldn’t have taken the job. Maybe they guessed that too!

  • Photo: maria1

    maria1 commented on :

    gr8