Challenging Forensic Science: Critical Analysis for Court

Dr. Alex Biedermann serves as Associate Professor at the School of Criminal Justice, Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice and Public Administration at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). His academic credentials include BSc and MSc degrees in Forensic Science from UNIL and a Ph.D. focusing on graphical models and probabilistic inference in forensic evidence evaluation. His professional experience includes work as a scientific advisor for the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police, handling cases for the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. Through his Coursera courses "Challenging Forensic Science: How Science Should Speak to Court" and "La science forensique au tribunal: témoin digne de foi?" he helps students understand the complexities of forensic evidence interpretation. As principal investigator of the NORMDECS project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, he studies forensic interpretation through probability and decision theory. His research connects forensic science and law with computational statistics and philosophy of science. With over 100 publications to his name, he continues to advance the field of forensic decision analysis while maintaining visiting appointments at institutions in Adelaide and Beijing.

Dr. Christophe Champod serves as Full Professor at the School of Criminal Justice, University of Lausanne, where he earned both his M.Sc. and Ph.D. (summa cum laude) in Forensic Science in 1990 and 1995 respectively. After serving as assistant professor, he led the Interpretation Research Group of the Forensic Science Service (UK) from 1999 to 2003 before returning to Lausanne as full professor. He currently manages the ISO/SEC 17025 accredited forensic laboratory at ESC while overseeing education and research on identification methods. His expertise extends to expert witness work, and he serves on the Steering Committee of the International Fingerprint Research Group (IFRG). Through his Coursera courses in forensic science, he teaches students about evidence interpretation in court settings. His contributions to forensic science have earned him numerous accolades, including the 2020 Douglas M. Lucas Medal and the 2015 Distinguished ENFSI Scientist Award. His research focuses on inferential aspects of forensic identification techniques and the evaluation of forensic evidence.

Dr. Franco Taroni serves as Full Professor of forensic statistics at the University of Lausanne's School of Criminal Justice. His academic credentials include a Ph.D. in forensic science from the University of Lausanne (1996) and two European Community Grants for research collaboration with Prof. Aitken at the University of Edinburgh. After serving as research project manager at the Institutes of Forensic Medicine of the Universities of Lausanne and Zürich, he has established himself as a leading expert in forensic statistics. Through his Coursera courses "Challenging Forensic Science: How Science Should Speak to Court" and "La science forensique au tribunal: témoin digne de foi?" he helps students understand statistical approaches to forensic evidence evaluation. His research focuses on forensic statistics, Bayesian networks, and decision-theoretic data analyses. He has authored several influential books including "Statistics and the evaluation of evidence for forensic scientists" (2004) and "Bayesian networks for probabilistic inference and decision analysis in forensic science" (2014). As editor of the journal Law, Probability and Risk (Oxford University Press), he continues to shape the field of forensic statistics while maintaining active research in probabilistic inference and decision analysis.

Dr. Tacha Hicks serves as a forensic scientist at the University of Lausanne's School of Criminal Justice and interpretation specialist at the University Center of Legal Medicine, Lausanne-Geneva. Her expertise centers on forensic evidence interpretation, particularly focusing on micro-traces including glass, fibers, and DNA analysis. Through her Coursera courses "Challenging Forensic Science: How Science Should Speak to Court" and "La science forensique au tribunal: témoin digne de foi?" she helps students understand forensic evidence interpretation principles. Since 2009, she has developed and delivered online interpretation courses for forensic practitioners and lawyers, collaborating with leading experts in the field. Her academic journey includes Ph.D. research on glass analysis and postdoctoral work in DNA evidence interpretation. Her professional experience includes three years at the Forensic Science Service's R&D Physical Science department. As the SCJ representative at the DNA ENFSI group and interpretation leader at the University Center of Legal Medicine, she continues to advance forensic science through research, teaching, and publications on evidence interpretation.