Join our BAFA Steering Committee!

BAFA Members who are looking to make a positive impact in the field of forensic anthropology and contribute to the growth of the Association can now apply for the BAFA Secretary position on the Steering Committee. All current BAFA Members can express their interest and apply for this position. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝟱𝗽𝗺 𝟮𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯. Details on how to apply have been emailed to all Members. If you have not received this email but you are a current BAFA Member, please contact the BAFA Membership Secretary.

The Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID) @ University of Dundee is offering a PhD studentship as part of the Greenhouse scholarship program. Applications are open until mid-July 2023. Please follow the link for further details.

https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cahid/research/phds

7th June 2023
A message from our Chair of the BAFA Steering Committee, Dr Julie Roberts: 

I have a few brief updates for you in advance of our summer Newsletter

1. I would like to thank all of you who attended our first live BAFA conference on the 29th April.  We were hosted by our BAFA Secretary, Rachael Carew, at Coventry University and it was a fabulous venue! The effort that you all made to engage with the workshop, and present talks and posters on your research was much appreciated. It was a really good day, and fun social in the evening- massive thanks to Conner for organising and facilitating the quiz! There will be more details of the talks and the prize winners to follow in the BAFA newsletter.

2. I would like to thank Emily Norton, Chris Rogers, Julietta Gómez Gacia-Donez, Micol Zuppello, and Amber Collings, for applying for the BAFA Committee positions of Commercial Officer and Academic and Research Liaison Officer. Thank you also to all those of you who voted- the results were very close indeed! For those of you who weren’t at the conference to hear the results, the successful candidates were Micol Zuppello, who is now our new Commercial Officer, and Amber Collings, who is now our Academic R&D Liaison Officer. I am delighted to welcome them both onto the committee and we all look forward to working with them in the future.

3. There are a few changes to report in the world of DVI including the return of our UK DVI Coordinator, Tracy Alexander, to the City of London Police. Our police UK DVI Commander Det Supt. Jon Marsden will be coordinating the forensic experts until a new appointment is made. Also of significance is the publication of the new 2023 Interpol DVI Guide which includes contributions from the Pathology and Anthropology Sub-Working Group. There is now a new post-mortem form for recording large volumes of burnt and fragmented remains, and updated guidance on recording and recovering remains from disaster scenes.

The July edition of ab FAB will contain further updates on DVI, including proceedings from the Interpol DVI meeting in Singapore, held at the end of May. There will also be a link to application forms for the new BAFA small grants in the newsletter, so make sure you don’t miss that!

Best wishes and thank you for your continued engagement,
Julie

A new study examines the importance of certification and credentials in Forensic Anthropology when demonstrating the expertise to stakeholders and other experts.

Free Access article: 
​
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1556-4029.15262

We have extended the call for student presentations until 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑. If you want to present a poster or do a presentation at our Spring Conference on 29/4/23, submit your abstract asap! More details here: http://www.bafa.uk/spring-conference-23.html​

For those of you who have not yet had chance to read the BAFA newsletter, please find attached an invite to apply for two vacant positions on the BAFA committee. Members who are working within a commercial forensic environment, or who are working in Higher Education and have a track record and keen interest in applied research, are encouraged to apply!

All the details that you need to apply are provided in the attached flyer, but if any of you have any additional queries, please contact either Dr Julie Roberts, or BAFA secretary Dr Rachael Carew.

Please note that you must be a BAFA Member to be eligible to apply. 

​For our upcoming Spring conference on Saturday 29th April in Coventry, we invite students to present their forensic anthropology research either as posters or in 3 or 15 minute presentations with Q&A and prizes awarded! The deadline is 31/03/23. A great opportunity to present your work!

Forensic Archaeology, Anthropology and Ecology is a journal that specialises in the inter-relationship between forensic anthropology, forensic archaeology and environmental forensic science in terms of research and forensic practice

Editors
Nicholas Marquez-Grant, Cranfield University, United Kingdom
Aida Gutierrez Galiacho, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

The journal covers all aspects of anthropology applied to medico-legal or humanitarian investigations, the application of archaeological methods and theory to forensic practice and how environmental or ecological evidence such as pollen, botany and soils has been used in the search and identification of human remains, as well as bringing perpetrators to justice when applicable.
 
A wide range of subject areas are welcomed, including geophysical methods, post-mortem interval, trauma and pathology, heritage crime, taphonomy, environmental scene sampling, entomology, mass grave investigations amongst others, and case studies ranging from WWI onwards.
 
FAAE publishes specially commissioned review papers, which aim to give an overview of a particular subject or issue; research papers which report new methods or techniques, as well as case studies which are short accounts of forensic or humanitarian cases where anthropological, archaeological and/or environmental methods have played a critical or new role. 

For journal details, published issues and guidance for submitting an article, please follow this link: ​https://journal.equinoxpub.com/FAAE/​