Welcome!
| Thank you for registering to attend the Winter Conference of the British Association for Forensic Anthropology, which will be held on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November at Liverpool John Moores University. We are delighted to be hosting our in-person Winter 2025 conference in Liverpool on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November. The conference will involve a range of invited speakers, posters and presentations, plus a practical workshop on trauma and taphonomic analysis. The conference will span two days, with tea/coffee and lunch included, plus an optional social event in the evening of the Saturday. If you are on social media, please connect with us during the conference too: Facebook: @BAFA.UK Bluesky: @bafa-uk.bsky.social LinkedIn: British Association for Forensic Anthropology (BAFA) If you need any help or support on the day or in the lead up to the conference then please don’t hesitate to get in touch via e-mail: committee@bafa-uk.org |
Conference
The full programme of the conference formally runs from 9:30 (GMT) until 17:00 on the Saturday 29th, with a shorter programme on the Sunday. All attendees are welcome to join the social event after the conference.
Conference Programme (GMT)
| Start time | Item & Speaker | |
| 9.00 | BAFA Committee Meeting Committee members only | 15 mins |
| 9.30 | Registration and Arrival (Tea, Coffee & Pastries) | 30 mins |
| 10.00 | Conference Welcome from BAFA Chair Dr Nicholas Márquez-Grant | 15 mins |
| 10.15 | Keynote Presentation Dr Constantine Eliopoulos Reading the Bones: Forensic Anthropology in the Aftermath of Conflict | 45 mins |
| 11.00 | Q&A BAFA chair – Dr Nicholas Marquez-Grant | 10 mins |
| 11.10 | Break (Tea, Coffee & biscuits; Poster viewing) | 20 mins |
| 11.30 | Introduction session 1 Session Chair – Dr Rachael Carew | |
| 11.30 | Sarina Riechmann and Anna Williams Post-mortem predators: Identifying and Tracking Scavengers of Human Remains in a Northwest European context. | 10 mins |
| 11.40 | Ellen Shakeshaft Tracing the Scent of Decay: Evaluating Cadaver Dog Accuracy and Environmental Influences in water, observations from UKK9 training | 10 mins |
| 11.50 | Christopher J Rogers, Ethan Henderson & Iwan Edmunds Air rifle trauma to porcine remains: a preliminary investigation | 10 mins |
| 12.00 | Sade Butler, Felicity Carlysle-Davies, Francesca Bertoldi, Edda Guareschi, Carlo Beltrame The Mercure shipwreck (1812): Investigating the impact of prolonged submersion on burnt human skeletal remains recovered from a Mediterranean marine environment | 10 mins |
| 12.10 | Catherine Roberts Drowning and Digging Up Dentine | 10 mins |
| 12.20 | Matteo Borrini Research on the (Cutting) Edge: Sharp Force Trauma Analysis at LJMU | 10 mins |
| 12.30 | Q&A Session Chair – Dr Rachael Carew | 15 mins |
| 12.45 | Poster Presentations (~2 mins each) | 45 mins |
| 13.30 | Lunch (Conference Buffet in Room 208; Poster viewing) | 1 hour |
| 14.30 | Return to Conference room | |
| 14.40 | Introduction session 2 Session Chair – Dr Amber Collings | |
| 14.40 | Tal Simmons, Michal Peer, Sharon Maydan, and Michal Shenfeld Collaborative Efforts of Identification for Returned Deceased Hostages | 10 mins |
| 14.50 | Sarah Ellingham Challenges in Managing the Dead in Gaza | 10 mins |
| 15.00 | Jade Ryan It Went Under My Skin: Assessing Tattoo Persistence Under Postmortem Conditions | 10 mins |
| 15.10 | Alexandra Johnson, Micol Zuppello and Julie Roberts From archaeology to forensics: interpreting radiocarbon dating and isotopic evidence in degraded human remains | 10 mins |
| 15.20 | Q&A Session Chair – Dr Amber Collings | 15 mins |
| 15.35 | Coffee Break and Poster viewing | 25 mins |
| 16.00 | BAFA AGM & Closing remarks from BAFA Chair | 50 mins |
| 17.00 | Conference close (vacate venue by 17:00) | |
| 19.30 | Social event (optional) Location/Venue: Philharmonic Dining Rooms (36 Hope St, Liverpool L1 9BX) |
Sunday CPD Workshop Programme
| Start Time | Item & Speaker | |
| 9.00 | Registration and Arrival (Tea, Coffee & Pastries) | 15 mins |
| 9.15 | Conference Welcome from BAFA Chair Dr Nicholas Márquez-Grant | 5 mins |
| 9.20 | Keynote presentation 1 Dr Tal Simmons Identifying projectile trauma | 60 mins |
| 10.20 | Keynote Presentation 2 Prof Rick Schulting Trauma and taphonomy in Prehistory | 60 mins |
| 11.20 | Break (Tea, Coffee & biscuits; Poster viewing) | 15 mins |
| 11.35 | Practical | 60 mins |
| 12.45 | Closing Remarks | 15 mins |
Poster Presentations
| Poster Title |
| 1. Wasps up, Doc?: Postmortem alteration of trauma and interspecific predation by Vespula sp. on porcine cadavers. Dawn Morgan, Dr Heather Angell and Dr Christopher J Rogers |
| 2. Evaluation of patellar metrics for estimation of sex from radiographs Eric Frauenhofer |
| 3. How FYPDs can better serve the forensic community: addressing the disparity between HE forensic research and the needs of practitioners, and how we fix it. Hebe Unwin |
| 4. Application of Transfer Learning for the Classification of Knife-Induced Sharp Force Trauma Giada Sciâdi Steiger MSc, Ricardo Omar Chavez-Garcia PhD, Matteo Borrini PhD |
| 5. Set in Stone: Human Remains in Concrete Micol Zuppello, David Jordan and Julie Roberts |
| 6. Genome wide association study identifies EDAR gene associated with earlobe attachment in Japanese populations Hannah Parlane, Kyoko Yamaguchi, Jessica Liu, Caroline Wilkinson, Takehiro Sato, Atsushi Tajima and Ryosuke Kimura. |
| 7. Can portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry be used to sort commingled archaeological human remains? An investigation into the use of X-ray fluorescence for discriminating between post-medieval skeletons from Chichester, England. Katherine Hanley (Supervised by Carolyn Rando) |
| 8. Improving forensic taphonomy in the UK: the need for a Human TaphonomyFacility (HTF) Christopher J Rogers, Dawn Morgan, Heather Angell, Lorna Dawson, Xenia Paula Kyriakou, Carolyn Rando, Mark Spencer, Caley Mein, John Cassella, Anna Williams |
| 9. Investigating the Methods Used and Attitudes Towards EstimatingPopulation Affinity in the UK Yuet (Ann) Ng, Satu Valoriani, Robert Rogers, Sherry Nakhaeizadeh, Nicholas Márquez-Grant |
| 10. Optimising Opportunities for Victim Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents Sasha Sephton, Julie Roberts, Rui Martiniano and Joel D. Irish |
| 11. Anatomical Representation in Sharp Force Trauma Research: A Comparison Between Experimental Bone Selection and Clinical Injury Pattern Isobel Knight and Matteo Borrini |
| 12. Are Fossils Purchased Online Genuine? – Preliminary Research into Fossil Fraud using Forensic Anthropological Methods Chelsea Cummings and Chris Aris |
| 13. Towards Consistency in Dental Histology Olga Nechyparenka |
| 14. The effects of plastic coverings alongside moisture on the decomposition of pig trotters, whilst being used as analogues for human decomposition. Penny Earp and Alex Wilshaw |
| 15. The Morals and Ethics of the Human Remains Trade Theodore J. W. Dobbs, Amber Collings, Christopher Aris |
| 16. Basic Tools, New Approaches: Using Mandibular Canine Index and 3D Imaging for Subadult Sex Determination Jorja Hill and Satu Valoriani |
| 17. How can we trace the legacies of the 1982 Falkland Islands/ Las Malvinas conflict: Methodological approaches to memory, heritage and political narratives? Beth Timmins |
| 18. Pathology at a Second Glance: The Utility of Histological Analysis in FindingPathology in Macroscopically “Healthy” Bone Cora Cisan |
| 19. Degradation of cotton fabric of different weights and colour M. Beck , D. Swales , H. Langstaff |
| 20. Investigating Medico-Legal Professionals’ Preferred Methods for the Presentation of Skeletal Trauma in Court: An Evaluation of the Appropriateness of Each Approach. Ellie Ranson and Catriona Davis |
| 21. Determining the pathology affecting two unknown Lumbar Vertebrae. Mia Hatton |
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Workshop: Taphonomy and Trauma Analysis
The Practical Workshop on Taphonomy and Trauma Analysis offers participants a hands-on opportunity to examine skeletal materials and casts that illustrate a wide range of postmortem and perimortem alterations. Through a series of staged examples, attendees will learn to identify and interpret taphonomic changes, as well as to recognise various forms of trauma. The workshop emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between postmortem damage and antemortem or perimortem trauma, enhancing participants’ analytical skills in forensic and archaeological contexts. By engaging directly with physical specimens and detailed case examples, participants will gain a deeper understanding of bone modification processes and trauma interpretation essential to bioarchaeological and forensic investigation.
Student Stands
Shivani Sanger
Follow the Clues! by Shivani Sanger (BSc, MSc, MSc) is an engaging and accessible introduction to forensic science for young readers aged 8–12. Combining clear explanations, humour, and colouring activities, the book introduces different branches of forensic science. Designed to spark curiosity and promote different career paths in forensic science, it encourages children from all backgrounds to imagine themselves as future scientists and investigators.
EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT OFFERED AT THE CONFERENCE!
It is available via Paperback and E-Book/Kindle on the following platforms:
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Follow-Clues-Forensic-Science-Investigators_/dp/1919259007/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1NQ3AMIZ2HPHQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.UTs2wHf_0yohUFo4Yq4R_A.ZerrQbDpcGeqMktjEV0-mBM39nzArmueGfLUQp1PFAA&dib_tag=se&keywords=shivani+sanger&qid=1761205749&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C143&sr=1-1-catcorr
- https://www.foyles.co.uk/book/follow-the-clues/shivani-sanger/9781919259000
- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/follow-the-clues-shivani-sanger/1148494884
- https://www.waterstones.com/book/follow-the-clues/shivani-sanger/9781919259000
Siobhan Kirby
Skeleton2GO is a project evaluating the impact of 3D printed replicas of human remains in forensic anthropology teaching. 3D printed bone models will be used in portable kits that students will take home to facilitate flexible learning, which will be particularly helpful for those facing barriers to learning such as disability, neurodiversity, mental health conditions and caring responsibilities.
We invite conference attendees to participate in the project by providing feedback via a survey on prototypes which will be on display during the conference.
British Association for Forensic Anthropology 