Public Lecture - Natural Justice: How nature delivers to the Criminal Justice System
Public Lecture - Natural Justice: How nature delivers to the Criminal Justice System
Online Event
Date
Description
This talk will discuss how soil and related environmental information and data can assist the criminal justice system. From the historical development of the discipline to its application to emerging global issues, I will discuss how scientific data can be used both in the investigative phase of investigations, sampling at a crime scene, laboratory analysis and the presentation of evidence in court.
Programme
This Public Lecture will take place on Wednesday 18th February 2026.
This is a virtual event, via Zoom.
18:00–19:00: Talk takes place (including Q&A)
19:00: Event end
Dame Professor Lorna Dawson
Lorna Dawson BSc (hons) Geography, Edinburgh University, PhD in Soil Science, Aberdeen University, is Head of the Centre for Forensic Soil Science at James Hutton Institute, Honorary Professor at Robert Gordon University, and Professora CESPU, Portugal. She is a Chartered Scientist, Fellow of the Institute of British Soil Scientists, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Fellow of the Royal Institute of Biology and Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. She is a registered expert with the National Crime Agency, a trained Expert Witness, holding diplomas in civil and criminal law (Cardiff, 2011, 2012, 2017 and in Scots Law, Aberdeen, 2021) and has worked on over 200 cases with police forces, agencies, lawyers and forensic science service providers such as Cellmark, Alecto and Apex, across the UK and overseas. She regularly presents evidence in court, for the prosecution and defence, including WA v Rayney, Perth, Australia, 2012; R v Davies, North Wales, 2013; HMA v Sinclair, Livingstone, 2014; R v Halliwell, Bristol, 2016; HMA v Willox, Glasgow, 2020, HMA v MacDowell, Inverness, 2022; R v Southwood, Newport, 2023; HMA v Barnes, Edinburgh, 2023; HMA v Packer, Glasgow, 2024 and the Sheku Bayoh Public Inquiry, Edinburgh, 2022. She has published over 150 scientific papers, and holds a diploma in Science Communication, Bristol. She is treasurer of the IUGS Initiative on Forensic Geology, Chair of the Geological Society Forensic Geology Group and an affiliate member of the Organisation of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science, USA, and on the steering committee of the ENFSI Animal Plant Soil Trace working group. She is currently on the UK Forensic Science Regulator’s Non-Human Biology Specialist Group, and the ENFSI Opinion and Interpretation Working Group. She was awarded a DBE in the Kings New Year honours list 2026 for services to innovation in soil and forensic science, a CBE from the late Queen Elizabeth in June 2018, the RSE James Hutton medal for excellence in Earth and Environmental sciences in 2023, the Proteomass Scientific Society Award, 2024, and the Fletcher of Saltoun Award, 2024 from the Scotland Saltire Society for excellence in science.
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