Former M*A*S*H actor backs forensics centre
Famed M*A*S*H actor and writer Alan Alda has given his backing to a new centre of excellence for forensic science in Dundee.
Alda, a passionate advocate of promoting the benefits of science to the public, will work alongside the new Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at Dundee University on a major upgrade of forensic science practice.
The Dundee centre is now an international partner of the of the Alan Alda Centre for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in New York, where the actor is a visiting professor.
Alda said: “We are very excited to be working with the Leverhulme Research Centre at the University of Dundee. The work you are planning in forensic science is so tremen- dously important to justice. We are going to have a great time working together.”
Work is under way at the Dundee centre, which was officially opened by the Queen this week, to improve the way around 40 different types of evidence are collected.
Professor Sue Black, who will lead developments, said it was necessary to tackle an international “crisis” in forensic science given that current, often ageing methods did not always deliver confidence in the court room.
A £10m donation from the Leverhulme Trust will allow research priorities to be planned for the next five years.
“We have identified 40 evidence types that require some attention. That goes from finger prints, to gun shot residue to blood spatter to footprint analysis. There are a lot of cases where in court forensic science is showing itself to have some problems.”