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Introduction
Why choose this course?
Key features
This course was developed in collaboration with Leicestershire Police and is professionally accredited by The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences ensuring your learning is of high-quality and remains relevant to current practice and standards.
You will have lots of opportunity to develop your practical and professional skills in our crime scene house, crime studio, crown court and our excellent forensic science laboratory facilities.
Our strong links with industry mean you’ll not only develop practical and professional skills, but may also be offered the opportunity to apply them to real-world scenarios by spending a year on placement.
Our teaching is delivered by a team of expert academics and former practitioners, including Leisa Nichols-Drew, who was awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to help her to develop her work exploring international approaches to the forensic investigation of knife crime.
Students have gained valuable and often unique international experience as part of their studies with our DMU Global programme, which has enabled students on previous trips to unearth information on human rights abuses and genocide in Guatemala, attend the New York Supreme Court to learn about judicial processes, and support refugees in Berlin.
Our graduates have gone on to work for world-leading employers including Eurofins (formerly LGC Forensics), Cellmark Forensics, Key Forensic Services, GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt Benckiser, 3M and the National Crime Agency.
Overview
Forensic science – familiar to most of us thanks to its appearances in popular TV police dramas – is the application of science to law and is carried out through the recovery, analysis, interpretation and presentation of scientific evidence, from crime scene to court.
If you have an enquiring mind, are good at solving scientific problems and want to work with cutting-edge equipment and facilities, then you could be the right person to work as a crime scene investigator or to analyse the evidence recovered from that scene.
In year 1, you will study the foundations of both chemistry and biology for forensic science, you will develop your forensic, professional and quantitative skills, including crime scene and forensic photography skills, and learn much more about a broad array of areas of forensic science in the essentials of forensic investigations module.
In year 2, you will learn about bodies, tissues and fluids, drugs and trace evidence, analytical forensic chemistry and will go on to learn more about the legal system in our issues in criminal justice module.
In your final year, you will cover forensic case studies, DNA profiling and the presentation of evidence, fire and toxicology and conduct a piece of research in our research project and professional skills module.
Modules
First Year
Semester 1
Forensic, Professional and Quantitative Skills
Foundations of Biology for Forensic Science
Semester 2
Essentials of Forensic Investigations
Foundations of Chemistry for Forensic Science
Second Year
Semester 1
Analytical Forensic Chemistry
Issues in Criminal Justice
Semester 2
Bodies, Tissues and Fluids
'Operation Vestigium'- Drugs and Trace Evidence
Third Year
Semester 1
Forensic Case Studies
‘Operation Ignis’ – A Fire and Toxicology based investigation
Semester 2
DNA Profiling and the Presentation of Evidence
Research Project and Professional Skills
Entry Criteria
ENTRY REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
Home Office Share Code
For EU students only.
IF no Qualification
Please provide CV with at least 2 years of work experience, and employee reference letter.
Entry criteria
GCSE
Five GCSEs at grade C/4 or above including Maths and English.
Plus one of the following:
A-Level
A minimum of 112 UCAS points from at least two A levels with a science subject (from Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Applied Sciences) at grade C or above
BTEC
BTEC National Diploma in Science BTEC - Distinction/Merit/Merit
BTEC Extended Diploma in Science BTEC - Distinction/Merit/Merit
Alternative qualifications include:
Access to HE Diploma
Pass QAA Accredited AHE with at least 15 level 3 credits at distinction and 30 level 3 credits at merit.
GCSE Maths and English grade 4 or above required as separate qualifications.
International Baccalaureate: 26+ with 6 higher level points in a science subject
Interview: No
Work experience: No
Personal Statement selection criteria
Clear communication skills, including good grammar and spelling
Information relevant to the course applied for
Interest in the course demonstrated with explanation and evidence
English language requirements
If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.5 overall is essential.
English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.
Assessment
ASSESSMENT METHODS
1. INTERNAL ENGLISH TEST if you don't have an English accredited certificate
2. Academic Interview
Teaching and assessments
Your precise timetable will depend on your modules, however, you will normally benefit from 22 contact hours timetabled teaching sessions each week, consisting of lectures, tutorials, practical laboratory sessions and workshops. You will also be expected to devote a considerable amount of time to independent study, typically 18 - 20 hours per week.
Practical work forms a large part of teaching and includes exercises at our mock crime house facility. You will also learn from visiting lecturers involved in forensic science. Assessments include coursework, practical reports and exams, phase tests, and written and oral presentations.
Teaching contact hours
Contact hours in a typical week will depend to some extent on any optional modules you choose to study. However, typically you will have up to 22 contact hours of teaching and this will break down as:
Personal tutorial/small group teaching: approx. 3 hours of tutorials (or later, project supervision) each week
Medium group teaching: approx. 10 hours of practical classes, workshops or seminars each week
Large group teaching: approx. 9 hours of lectures each week
Personal study: approx. 20 hours studying and revising in your own time each week, including some guided study using hand-outs, online activities, etc.
Academic expertise
You will be taught by a team of academics with a wide range of experience in both academic and industrial settings. Research specialisms include forensic DNA analysis, wildlife crime, fingermark development and recovery, fire investigation, firearms chemistry and forensic applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).
Accreditation
Accredited by The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences.
Career Opportunities
Placements
As part of this course you will have the opportunity to complete a paid placement, which offers invaluable professional experience working in a scientific environment. Students have been placed in internationally recognised companies such as Pfizer.
Our Careers Team can help you secure a placement through activities such as mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and you will be assigned a personal tutor to support you throughout your placement.
Forensic Science student Beatriz Silva helped to fight against serious crime during her placement as a research assistant at the National Crime Agency (NCA). Beatriz says, “This year has helped me develop many skills, such as data analysis and the use of databases. It has also helped me boost my confidence as a professional."
Graduate careers
Our graduates go on to work in a variety of areas including law enforcement, forensic science, crime scene and scientific support work, analytical chemistry, general scientific analysis, health and safety, and the insurance industry.
Forensic Science graduate Lauren Dougan was “ecstatic” when she landed her dream job working for ALS Food & Pharmaceutical, the UK's leading provider of food and drink testing services.
Lauren, who hopes to progress within the company and possibly study for a master's, said: “The best thing about my job is it allows me to transfer all the skills I learned at DMU and apply them to a real-world situation.”
Other graduates from this course have gone on to work for world-leading forensic science employers including LGC Forensics, Orchid Cellmark, GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt Benckiser and 3M.
DMU Global
This is our innovative international experience programme which aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons – helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world. Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.
Students on this course have previously undertaken DMU Global trips to places such as Guatemala, where they witnessed the work of experts from the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation, an organisation that has carried out important work in helping to unearth human rights abuses and genocide in the Central American country.
Students have also visited New York, where they were taken from the crime scene, to the forensic laboratory and all the way to the court, thanks to inside access to some of the USA’s most renowned crime investigation and judicial centres.
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