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Asked by anon-220696 on 14 Jun 2019.
Question: im currently in third year, and looking into forensics, do you have any tips on how to educate myself in this particular topic?
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Rebecca Moon answered on 14 Jun 2019:
Wow, great choice. Its certainly not my area of expertise, but maybe look into some work experience. You could try contacting your local hospital and find out if they’d let you do some work experience/observation in the pathology department (that’s where they do post-mortem/autopsies). It may also be worthwhile getting some work experience with the police? And I suspect there are some labs where they do more of the lab based analysis, but I don’t know where these would be located, sorry. You could also look at university courses on forensic science to see what sort of A-levels they require and if there are any students doing this near to you that you could get in contact with to find out more about what the course involves. Good luck.
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Nina Rzechorzek answered on 14 Jun 2019:
Great choice – so interesting! Forensics covers a wide range of subjects so a good grounding in the basic sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, maths) will help. You may also have an interest in human anatomy and pathology – there are some great resources online for this and some of them are free. I actually added on a course in ‘Forensic Medicine’ to my undergrad degree in Physiology at Edinburgh. Pleased to say this amazing course is still running and you can find out more info here:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/pathology/forensic-medicine-science-course/about-course
Best of luck! -
David Wilson answered on 14 Jun 2019:
I studied forensic medicine for a bit at university, it was really interesting trying to piece together a story from the evidence.
There’s some good online resources about what being a forensic scientist involves and routes to become one, here’s one: https://www.ucas.com/ucas/after-gcses/find-career-ideas/explore-jobs/job-profile/forensic-scientist
If you were interested in work experience I would contact your local police force who will have a forensic science dept. I would also get in touch with your nearest hospital pathology dept. who will be able to give you advice on the pathologists role in forensics and would be an interesting perspective to have. -
Kaitlin Wade answered on 15 Jun 2019:
That’s a great idea! My friend studied forensics at university and loved it. Most forensic scientists tend to either have a degree in forensics or something similat, like biology, chemistry or physics. Work experience is always a great idea to not only get some practical insight about the job but also throws you in at the deep end so you can see which parts you like/don’t like!
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Shonna Johnston answered on 17 Jun 2019:
Good choice! I went to Edinburgh University and the Forensic course was actually part of the Law degree but if you were doing Biological Sciences then you were able to swap it for one of your half modules, which is what I did. I really enjoyed it and most of the lecturers had or were working with the police in cases.
A lot of the main courses tend to be offered by universities that are close to police forensic labs. If you are interested, you could contact the course organiser and ask for the reading list. -
Matthew Bareford answered on 24 Jun 2019:
That’s a great choice! in terms of educating yourself, I think firstly it would be great to get some work experience, either through local police force, or even just a laboratory such as hospital/university. Whilst not forensics, any lab experience will still teach you some of the core skills needed to work in the forensics field.
Another point to consider would be to contact universities you like the look of and speak to the course tutors there or even students, you may be able to get some great advice from them and maybe even be able to arrange a visit!
Another point to consider would possibly be some photography work, as this is something which forensics use to keep a log of the scene and something which would be good to have experience in.
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