Tutor
Dr Catriona Davies
Start date
23rd of October 2024
Type
8 x 1-hour classes
Price: £245
This course is aimed at those who are aiming towards Certified Forensic Anthropologist Level II (Cert FAII). The course is built for those who are already certified at FAIII and are looking to build their competency and progress towards FAII.
Key words: Forensic Anthropology; CPD; Skeletal Anatomy; Human Identification
Topic Outline:
- Human v Non-Human Bone Identification
- Adult human osteology
- Introduction to juvenile osteology
- Introduction to UK legal jurisdictions and expert evidence
Associated Competency Tests:
Human v Non-human Bone Identification
Adult Human Osteology
Tutor biography
Dr Catriona Davies is a senior lecturer in forensic anthropology and Chartered Forensic Anthropologist at the University of Dundee, Scotland. She has over a decade of experience in providing assistance to police forces throughout the UK in forensic anthropology and holds a BSc (hons) and PhD in Forensic Anthropology. https://www.dundee.ac.uk/people/catriona-davies.
Course objective & structure
Participants will gain an awareness of human skeletal variation and how this variability can be used in the identification of human remains. The online synchronous content will be lecture/seminar style with discussion encouraged. The asynchronous content will include theoretical content and associated reading.
Summary of Seminar topics
- Class 1: Human v Non-Human Bone Identification a
- Class 2: Human v Non-Human Bone Identification b
- Class 3: Adult Human Osteology a
- Class 4: Adult Human Osteology b
- Class 5: Introduction to Juvenile Osteology a
- Class 6: Introduction to Juvenile Osteology b
- Class 7: Introduction to UK legal jurisdictions and expert evidence a
- Class 8: Introduction to UK legal jurisdictions and expert evidence b
Further information about classes
Topic 1 (Week 1 & 2) : Human v Non-Human Bone Identification
This topic will cover the theoretical and practical aspects of human and non-human bone identification utilising photographic images submitted through the Virtual Anthropology Consultancy Service and 3D scans available from creative commons sources. The underlying basis for the morphology of animal bone will be covered including the differential locomotor patterns and adaptation to forces. Other means of ascertaining origin including histology and biochemical testing will be touched upon although as these are specialist areas, they will not be a primary focus of the topic.
A competency test will be available in association with this topic. This will be a single attempt at the end of the course and will meet the requirements of the competency test CPD element from within the practitioner levels documentation in relation to recertification.
Topic 2 (Week 3 & 4): Adult Human Osteology
Human osteology is evidently a core competency of any physical or biological anthropologist, and particularly when applying this to forensic anthropology. This topic will cover the core elements of human osteology with an assumed level of knowledge of at least MSc. As this course is aimed at those who are certified at FA3 level, this is a reasonable presumption. The topic content will focus on the more challenging aspects of human osteology including fragment identification and the identification and siding of elements that are frequently omitted from taught programmes e.g. carpal, manual, tarsal and pedal elements.
A competency test will be available in association with this topic. This will be a single attempt at the end of the course and will meet the requirements of the competency test CPD element from within the practitioner levels documentation in relation to recertification.
Topic 3 (Week 5 & 6): Introduction to Juvenile Osteology
Juvenile osteology is less widely covered in taught post-graduate programmes than is adult osteology or comparative osteology. This is predominantly due to access to specimens from which to teach. This topic will provide participants with an introduction to the juvenile osteology including a more detailed consideration of growth and development than perhaps they have been previously given. This will then be supplemented with content relating to the gross morphological changes observed. An introduction to the application of methods of analysis to juvenile material will be provided.
Topic 4 (Week 7 & 8): Introduction to UK legal jurisdictions and expert evidence
The UK consists of multiple legal jurisdictions which have their own terminologies and procedures. As practitioners are certified for the UK and not for a single jurisdiction, this topic will provide participants with an awareness of the different jurisdictions that exist and within which forensic anthropological work is conducted. Areas included in the topic will be the core competencies and knowledge in relation to the criminal procedure rules and practice directions, the 4 Rs (Record, Retain, Reveal, Review) in relation to evidence, and the role of the expert witness. It is intended that this topic serves to widen the perspective of participants beyond the jurisdiction in which they live, study etc.
