Geoforensics and Information Management for crime Investigation (GIMI)

Past Meetings

GIMI 1st Project Meeting, 16 & 17 May 2006, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute

Two outputs from the discussions were on sample sharing and running of an international conference.

Sample sharing

A programme of sample sharing was initiated to examine the benefits of extending the analytical capabilities of member’s laboratories and consider issues of quality control. Partners will circulate samples from various projects for additional analyses to those performed in their own laboratories. 

The first sample sharing scheme will involve groups in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to detect the presence of decomposing bodies, and the need to determine time after death using such techniques. A second scheme was discussed to test the integration of various combinations of analytical approaches in all partner countries.

The groups of scientists also aim to develop an integrative soils database, consisting of existing and newly generated soils data from each country with a view to inviting other key countries to join the scheme.  These projects provide a start to the design and development of an international database for use in research and, eventually, operational activities.

GIMI 2nd Project Meeting, 24 November 2006, BGS, Keyworth, Nottingham

Featured items included:

Notes on related research projects at Queens University Belfast,
Alastair Ruffell, Queens University Belfast
Wolfram Meier-Augenstein, Queens University Belfast

Decomposition chemistry and its application to forensic science".
Shari Forbes, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada

Mobile Environmental Laboratory,
Julian Trick, British Geological Survey, Keyworth                  

A new Mobile Environmental Laboratory facility, the first of its kind in the UK, has been developed by the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to facilitate real-time decision making by providing on-site analysis comparable to fixed laboratory analysis.  Equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation, including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), XRF (benchtop and handheld), ultraviolet fluorescence spectroscopy (UVF), near infrared spectroscopy, ion chromatography and bioluminescence screening, the lab is designed to provide rapid cost effective, qualitative and quantitative soil, water and gas analysis on-site.

 

International Conference 2007

The network also coordinated and ran the 2nd International Workshop on Criminal and Environmental Soil Forensics in Edinburgh in late 2007.  This collaboration with other interested groups included sessions on issues of analytical diagnostics in soil forensics, forensic geology, non-invasive measurement techniques, case studies and legal issues, crime scene reconstruction and geostatistical modelling.