Forensic Institute transformation – part two

Equipment purchases begin!

A major part of our Cranfield Forensic Institute transformation is acquiring new equipment for forensic teaching and research. This week, I approved the first few equipment orders (worth in excess of £250,000) and we hope to install the brand new kit as soon as the building is ready in the summer. The first set of orders included one very significant piece of equipment, a virtual autopsy table, which will be a new teaching and research aid for us. The table is one of the most technologically advanced virtual dissection tables in anatomy education and allows students to be taught in a unique, dynamic and engaging manner.

You will see in the images, included with this blog, the details of the equipment we have ordered, but the idea is that students will get to experience multiple clinical examples of autopsies and manipulate them as three dimensional images, allowing sectioning and density differentiation. This equipment will play a big part in our forensic anthropology teaching, led by Dr Nick Marquez-Grant.

For those who are more interested in ballistics, we also ordered two new comparison microscopes. This equipment allows scratches caused by a weapon on rounds to be compared, linking a weapon to a scene or victim. They will be central to our forensic ballistics teaching and research. Additionally, the new equipment will be used for MSc theses, where our students specialise in individual research projects under a staff supervisor.

We want to let you know how the move and transformation is progressing every step of the way so please make sure to keep an eye out for my next update, coming soon!

If you want to chat to our forensics team about the move, explore the Cranfield campus or have questions about the Forensic MSc programme come to our next, Open Day.

You can also read ‘Part One’ of the Forensic Institute transformation…

Header image credit: Anatomage