Dr Sheila Willis is a forensic scientist who was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland for many years.
She has spent her life using science to help solve cases, working on crime scenes and then analysing material in the lab, and presenting scientific evidence in court.
It’s a complicated business. Forensic science relies on powerful technology, such as DNA analysis, but it cannot be that alone - it’s also about human judgement, logical reasoning and asking the right questions.
It is these fundamentals of forensic science that Sheila has fought for through her long career and what she fears may be becoming lost from the field now.
We find out what happens when the two very different worlds of science and the law clash in the courtroom. How to walk the line of presenting scientific evidence where there is pressure to be definitive where often science cannot be - and what this part of the job has in common with food packaging.
And what makes a good forensic scientist?
We’ll turn the studio at London’s Broadcasting House into a live crime scene to see if host Professor Jim Al-Khalili would be any good as a forensic investigator…
Produced by Gerry Holt
Giles Yeo on how our genes can make us fat
Cath Noakes on making buildings Covid-safe
Chris Jackson on sustainable geology
Scientists in the Spotlight during the Pandemic
Neil Ferguson on modelling Covid-19
Sarah Gilbert on developing a vaccine for Covid-19
Steve Haake on technology, sport and health
Francesca Happé on autism
Heather Koldewey on marine conservation
Dale Sanders on feeding the world
Andy Fabian on black holes
Alice Roberts on bones
Clifford Stott on riot prevention
Emma Bunce on the gas giants
Jane Goodall on living with wild chimpanzees
Liz Seward and the dream of spaceflight
Frank Kelly on air pollution
Debbie Pain on conserving globally threatened bird species
Jim McDonald on power networks
Brian Greene on how the universe is made of string
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins