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On behalf of the BAFA Committee, I would like to say a massive thank you to those of you who submitted your posters to the virtual conference. The quality and variety of the research was outstanding, and this was reflected in the range and numbers of votes cast. In addition to the presenters, I would also like to thank everybody who attended the conference for their interest and engagement. You all contributed to the success of the event, which provided us with a great opportunity to meet and exchange knowledge. I hope that we can continue to develop the connections that we have made over the past 10 days and learn more about the brilliant research that is taking place in universities across the UK and beyond. So, without further ado, it gives me great pleasure to announce the winners of the three categories:
Committee’s Choice Priscilla Ferreira Ulguim and Tim Thompson, Teesside University: Algorithmic Approaches for Visualising Heat Induced change in Burned bone Presenters’ Choice Catherine Maidment and Anna Williams, University of Huddersfield: Shining a light on Forensic Anthropology: the use of Alternative Light Sources to Detect Skeletal Remains Underwater Delegates’ Choice Paige Tynan, Wrexham Glyndwr University: Effects of Body Size on the rate of decomposition in the UK: Measuring Total Body Score and percentage mass change in Sus scrofa The conference site will remain open for a few days so that you can continue to browse the posters and finish your conversations, and you can also leave comments and feedback on any of the BAFA social media platforms. Once again, a huge thank you to everybody who participated in our first independent conference. We hope that it will be the first of many virtual and live BAFA events as things gradually return to normal. Warmest Regards, Dr Julie Roberts, Chair of BAFA. It’s been a trying time for everyone over the last few months trying to juggle home life with study and work. Many conferences have been cancelled and research has taken a back burner for many. However, we are sure our members have work they have not yet had the opportunity to showcase. We thought now would be the perfect chance for BAFA to step in and organise something flexible that everyone can get involved with.
Between Monday 13th July and Sunday 19th July we will be hosting a FREE online poster conference covering all topics relating to forensic anthropology. These posters will be collated and made available to those who have registered to ‘attend’ throughout the week for review, comment and judging. We will be offering three prizes of £100 to the ‘Presenters Choice’, ‘Attendees Choice’ and ‘Committees Choice’. TO SUBMIT A POSTER We will be accepting submissions of posters on any topic linked to Forensic Anthropology from all current members of BAFA. We would particularly like to encourage submission from students who may not have previously showcased their research at a conference. Anyone who is not a current member of BAFA will need to apply for membership and have paid their fees before the submission closure date. The deadline for submission is Friday 10th July and submissions can be made HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND The conference will be FREE to attend for all, including non-members so please do share this information with anyone who you feel would be interested. We ask that all those who wish to have access to the posters during the conference complete the registration before Friday 10th July pm. After the conference closes, BAFA members can enjoy unlimited access to the posters through a new ‘Members Only’ area on our website, which is currently under development. You can register to ‘attend’ the conference HERE If you have any questions about the event, then please get in touch with us via e-mail: CONFERENCE@BAFA.UK We are seeking a secretary to join the BAFA committee. We are looking for a person with good organisational and communication skills who is prepared to take an active role within the Association. Duties will include management of BAFA committee meetings and the AGM, preparing agendas for meetings and circulating minutes to members. For a full description of responsibilities, please see the committee page.
If you would like to be considered for this position then please send your name, contact details and a paragraph of approximately 200-400 words describing yourself and what you think you could bring to the role, to chair@bafa.uk and membership@bafa.uk. We will collate your responses and then circulate them to members for voting. The deadline for submission of applications is the 15th June, and applications are welcome from any current member including students. I encourage all those of you who are interested to apply. As you can see, there is a fairly short turn around time of just under two weeks, after which time we will be asking members vote for their preferred candidate. Disaster victim identification operations with fragmented, burnt, or commingled remains: experience-based recommendations
Hans H. de Boer, Julie Roberts, Tania Delabarde, Amy Z. Mundorff & Soren Blau Forensic Sciences Research. Published Online: 26th May 2020 ABSTRACT: Human-made and natural disasters can result in severely fragmented, compromised, and commingled human remains. The related disaster victim identification (DVI) operations are invariably challenging, with the state of the remains potentially precluding some identifications. Practitioners involved in these DVI operations will routinely face logistical, practical, and ethical challenges. This review provides information and guidance derived from first-hand experiences to individuals tasked with managing DVI operations with fragmented human remains. We outline several key issues that should be addressed during disaster preparedness planning and at the outset of an operation, when incident-specific strategies are developed. Specific challenges during recovery and examination of fragmented remains are addressed, highlighting the importance of experienced specialists at the scene and in the mortuary. DNA sample selection and sampling techniques are reviewed, as well as downstream effects of commingling and contamination, which can complicate reconciliation and emphasise the need for rigorous quality control. We also touch on issues that may arise during communication with families. While recommendations are provided, they are not intended as proscriptive policy but rather as an addition to the general recommendations given in the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) DVI Guide, to inform preparative discussions between government officials, judiciary, police, and forensic specialists. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: DOI: 10.1080/20961790.2020.1751385 2020 will be an important year for BAFA as we go forward with our plans to become an independent professional association. We are committed to maintaining our close relationship with BAHID and thank them for all their support over the past nine years. We still look forward to sharing events with BAHID in the future but we will now also be organising our own meetings, workshops and CPD events. In addition to this we will have our own BAFA membership fees, register and website.
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