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Bachelor of Technology (Forensic & Analytical Chemistry)

CHEM 2302 Professional Skills in Forensic Chemistry

This 6 unit topic has been made a compulsory component of the degree course in response to employers' requirements for graduates who, in addition to their professional knowledge, have the ability to present competent written and oral reports, who are able to substantiate claims made in these reports and who have the appropriate interpersonal skills for working in a team environment within the workplace.

Students undertaking this topic initially undertake one semester of training in Professional English, which is presented by the English Department, and is a slightly modified version of the Flinders topic ENGL 1001 notionally weighted at 4.5 units. Having completed this, the students are then required to undertake and report on a two week period of industry placement. The purpose of this period of industry placement is not that the students should acquire any particular scientific skills; if they do this is a bonus, but simply that they should observe how the skills that they are acquiring at the University are applied in the workplace to provide a service for the wider community. Although the students are usually visited by a Flinders academic staff member whilst on placement, no attempt is made to assess each student's performance during the placement; they are simply required to participate to the best of their ability in whatever professionally related activity the provider thinks appropriate.

The industry placement is for a period of two weeks and takes place either in the last two weeks of the mid-year break or in the two weeks of the mid-Semester 2 break. The topic coordinator takes responsibility for finding and making arrangements for an appropriate placement for each student, either in a forensic crime laboratory or in an analytical chemistry laboratory. As the University does not pay any travelling or accommodation expenses for the students, the location of these laboratories has to be within daily travelling distance of their home. This means that they are mostly placed within the Adelaide metropolitan area except for students whose permanent home is not in Adelaide who may be placed either in their home town, if a suitable laboratory exists, or at another non-Adelaide location to which they may be prepared to travel at their own expense in preference to staying on in Adelaide and paying accommodation expenses during what would otherwise be a holiday period.

Four different Forensic Crime Laboratories have been used and about half of the students each year (15 out of 30) are placed with these. They are the South Australian Forensic Science Services Laboratory, The South Australian Police Forensic Division Laboratories, The Central Region Forensic Laboratories of the Australian Federal Police, and the Victoria Forensic Science Centre. The first three are in Adelaide and the last in Melbourne. Students placed at the two police laboratories have been able to make restricted attendances at actual crime scenes and observe the collection and subsequent processing of evidence. Students at the Forensic Science Laboratories have generally been involved with project work aimed at addressing some particular need for background data relevant to crime scene analysis. For example, to what extent do accelerants used in arson cases persist after the fire has been extinguished, or, to what extent do you expect to find small fragments of window glass retained on a suspect's clothing after he/she has broken a window to gain access to premises?

A variety of different analytical laboratories are used, these include those of the two pharmaceutical companies in Adelaide, Fauldings and Hamiltons, and the two car manufacturers Mitsubishi and Holden, as well as those of Sola Optical, ETSA, the Australian Water Quality Centre, MPL Occupational & Environmental Testing, JH Lever Perfumery Laboratories and Pivot Fertilisers. In country locations we have placed students at the laboratories of Pasminco (Port Pirie), Port Lincoln Hospital, Charles Sturt University (Wagga), Dept of Primary Industries Darwin, National Foods (Murray Bridge), Dairy Farmers (Mt Gambier) and the Environmental Research Institute (Jabiru, Northern Territory). Students placed in these types of laboratories generally participate in a variety of different analytical activities that the laboratory undertakes and in some instances, towards the end of the placement period, have been given sole responsible for conducting particular analyses whilst other staff members are absent or re-directed.

On return to the University the students are required to present a written report, which is assessed, describing their activities with particular reference to the scientific techniques that they employed or observed. They are also required to make an oral presentation, for the benefit of the remainder of the class, following which they are questioned on its content by academic staff and students.

Feedback from students suggests that they greatly appreciate the effort that the University goes to in arranging the industry placement. Many have commented that, although they are interested in chemistry and studying it, they really have very little idea of what goes on in the chemical industry. They say that the industry placement scheme redresses this and that having undertaken it they understand more fully why they are being taught the things that they are at University. In consequence they become more committed to their work, which they now see in a truly professional context. Some students find that following the placement they have been asked back to undertake paid work during the summer vacation and most come to realise that through the placement they have come to meet senior people in the profession who can assist them in their long term aspiration of gaining permanent employment in forensic and/or analytical chemistry.

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