Plenary Speakers

Professor Pierre Margot fell early in the cauldron of forensic science by obtaining a combined degree in forensic science and criminology at Lausanne University, Switzerland, a long time ago. A short spell in the UK attracted him to pursue a MSc degree in forensic science at Strathclyde University, followed by a PhD degree also at Strathclyde and also in forensic science: postdoctoral research led him from Salt Lake City (USA) in forensic toxicology, the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (research in chromatography) and to ANU in Canberra to pursue research and development in fingerprints in the group that developed what became the Polylight and various detection methods. He was then called to take the professorial position in 1986 in Lausanne, the first academic chair in forensic science, created in 1909. He was the 4th professor to occupy this chair. One of his major contribution is to have created a research centre where over 60 PhD theses have been completed in the last 20 years and a full commitment to develop further this discipline as a key actor of forensic intelligence, investigative science and in providing solid and measurable evidence in court. His group has published over 220 peer-reviewed papers in forensic science within the last 10 years.

Qualified from the University of Lausanne (MPhil & PhD), Frank CRISPINO is a former Cadet of the French Air Force Academy.

French Gendarmerie high ranking Officer (The Gendarmerie is a French police with a military status), Colonel CRISPINO is presently serving as the Head of the criminal Gendarmerie Department in Bordeaux, in charge of investigating serious, organized international crimes and preventing terrorist incidents over an area covering two French districts.

He served from 1993 to 1999 at the Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale (IRCGN – Forensic Lab of the Gendarmerie) as head of the Forensic Anthropology, afterwards in charge of the Fingerprints and Latent Traces Departments.

From February 1999 to Summer 2002 he became chief of an European project within the Oslo Agreements to provide forensic capacities to the Palestinian Authority, then Scientific and Forensic Adviser of the European Union Special Adviser Office (EUSAO) in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Counter-terrorism. He left the Middle East after the destruction of the Palestinian forensic assets in 2002.

Medal-holder of the Legion d'Honneur and the Ordre National du Merite, Frank is father of three, still continuing to play rugby...

William C. Thompson is Professor and former Chair of the Department of Criminology, Law & Society at the University of California, Irvine. He has a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He studies the way people interpret (and sometimes misinterpret) scientific and statistical data and has also written extensively about the use and misuse of DNA evidence.

Although primarily an academic, Thompson occasionally represents clients in cases involving novel scientific and statistical issues. He argued the first case on admissibility of DNA evidence before the Supreme Court of New Mexico and was a member of the “dream team” that represented O.J. Simpson during his criminal trial. He has consulted with police departments, coroners and lawyers on a variety of cases involving scientific evidence in the US, the UK, and Australia. He has also assisted in several important journalistic investigations of crime labs, including the investigation that exposed problems in the notorious Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory.

Thompson served as Reporter for the American Bar Association Standards Committee Study Group on DNA Evidence and was a member of the Task Force that drafted the ABA’s Standards on DNA Evidence. He is also a member of the California Crime Laboratory Review Task Force, a body created by the state legislature to recommend ways of improving forensic science in California.

Pat Wertheim was employed in local and state law enforcement agencies in the US from 1973 through 1997 in crime scene, fingerprint, and identification functions. He was certified as a latent print examiner by the International Association for Identification in 1981. Mr. Wertheim began teaching fingerprint comparison techniques in 1987 and left police employment in 1997 to teach advanced courses full time. Mr. Wertheim taught on four continents and lectured extensively until 2001, when he resumed employment in the Crime Laboratory as a latent print examiner. Mr. Wertheim has specialized in the detection of forged and fabricated fingerprint evidence and has published numerous articles on these topics, as well as general subjects in latent fingerprint development and comparison.

Dr James Robertson has been National Manager, and Head, of Forensic with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Australia since 1989. Prior to this he spent nearly five years in the Forensic Science Centre in South Australia having come to Australia from Scotland where lectured in forensic science at the University of Strathclyde (1976-1985).

Under the direction of Dr Robertson, the Forensic and Data Centres group of the AFP has grown from modest beginnings to a multi-site, multi-discipline group. 

The Forensic and Data Centres includes Forensic, the Australian Bomb Data Centre (ABDC), the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Data Centre (CBRNDC) and the Australian Illicit Drug Data Centre (AIDDC).  The group covers almost all aspects of forensic science and technical information, has a strong research and development interests and has formed a number of strategic partnerships in Australia and overseas.

Dr Robertson has published over sixty papers and books and remains an active scientist and researcher. He is an Adjunct Professor at two Australian universities and a Courtesy Professor at the University of Florida, USA.  In 2007 he was awarded the highest honour of the University of Canberra, a Doctor of the University.  He is also a holder of the Australian Public Service Medal for services to forensic science and law enforcement.

He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has served on many government and university committees and advisory groups, is a past Chair of the Senior Managers Australian and New Zealand Forensic Laboratories (SMANZFL), is a member of the Council of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences and Editor of the Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences.

Dr Keith Bedford is the General Manager Forensic for the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR), New Zealand. ESR is a “Crown Research Institute”, established under an Act of Parliament, and is the main provider of forensic science services to law enforcement agencies and the justice sector in New Zealand. ESR delivers forensic science services under a commercial, fee for service model. Dr Bedford completed his degrees, including a PhD in physical-organic chemistry, at the University of Auckland and began his career as a forensic scientist in 1976, initially specialising in illicit drugs and forensic toxicology work. In 1984/5 he spent a year on secondment with what was then the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory in London, UK.

Following the restructuring of government science and research activities in New Zealand he transferred to newly-established ESR in 1992 and has subsequently moved into various management roles.

Dr Bedford is a member of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (established under the Misuse of Drugs Act) advising the NZ Minister of Health on drug classification issues, 2001- He was awarded New Zealand Science & Technology Medal for "sustained contribution to forensic science in New Zealand and leadership in delivering enhanced and innovative forensic science services to benefit the New Zealand public" in October 2001

He has been a lecturer at various times on Drugs and Toxicology, drugs legislation and forensic science ethical issues to the University of Auckland/ESR postgraduate courses in forensic science. He is on the Board of Studies and an external assessor for that programme.

Dr Bedford has published extensively and given conference presentations on various topics in drugs and toxicology, forensic science and forensic science management and facility planning & development.

Gary Edmond is a law professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow. He also Directs the Program in Expertise, Evidence and Law at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law (CISL) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Originally trained in the history and philosophy of science, he subsequently studied law at the University of Sydney and took a PhD in law from the University of Cambridge. An active commentator on expert evidence in Australia, England, and the US, he is a member of the Society for the Social Study of Science (US), a reviewer for the National Science Foundation (US), a member of the Council of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences, and recently served as an international adviser to the Goudge Inquiry into Paediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario.

Gary is currently involved in a collaborative multidisciplinary project on expert identification evidence with other lawyers, psychologists and forensic scientists, and an empirical study of expert evidence in the courts of New South Wales. He has published dozens of articles on law and science in leading Australian, English and American law, social science and forensic science journals.

Alastair is currently the Director of the ANZPAA National Institute of Forensic Science (NIFS). He also held this position as the inaugural Director from 1992 to 2003. From 2003- 2008 Alastair was Director of the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department.

Alastair holds a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Master of Applied Science (Research) from the University of South Australia.

Alastair is the immediate past-Chair of the Senior Managers of Australian and New Zealand Forensic Laboratories (SMANZFL) and of the International Forensic Strategic Alliance (IFSA).

Alastair received the Adelaide Medal from the International Association of Forensic Sciences for international contributions to forensic science in 2002 and is a Member of the Order of Australia

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