Citation

Morgan RM, Levin EA. Forensic Sci. Int. Synergy 2019; 1: 243-252.

Affiliation

UCL Centre for the Forensic Sciences, UCL Department of Security and Crime Science, 35 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.fsisyn.2019.09.002

PMID

32411977

PMCID

PMC7219127

Abstract

This study presents analysis of forensic science research funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) research councils (2009-2018), representing 150 projects with a cumulative value of £56.1 m (0.01% of the total UKRI budget over this time period). The findings indicate that dedicated forensic science funding represents only 46.0% of the projects included in the dataset. Research focussed on developing technological outputs represented 69.5% of the total funding (£37.2 m) in comparison to foundational research which represented 19.2% (£10.7 m). Traditional forensic science evidence types such as fingerprints and DNA received 1.3% and 5.1% of the total funding respectively, in comparison to digital and cyber projects which received 25.7%. These data offer insight into the scale of the funding crisis in forensic science in the UK, and the need to increase the resources available, to develop ways of articulating value and to ensure that both technological and foundational research are enabled.

© 2019 The Authors.

Language: en

Keywords

Crisis; Forensic science; Funding; Research; Technological and foundational