PhD, ChFA, Cert FA-I
Dr Julie Roberts has been the Company Scientific Adviser at Alecto Forensics since December 2021.
With over 20 years’ worth of experience as a Forensic Anthropologist and Archaeologist and a successful track record in building and managing Forensic Ecology teams, she is well equipped for this position within the company. During her career, Julie has assisted both civilian and military police officers with the location, recovery and identification of human remains from scenes of crime, war zones and mass fatality incidents on a national and international scale. She has provided expert opinion in complex cases and cold case reviews for the Prosecution and the Defence as well as independent clients. Her specialist areas of expertise include the identification and interpretation of burnt and highly fragmented remains and Disaster Victim Identification, for which she received a police commendation in 2019.
Julie is registered as an Expert Advisor in forensic anthropology and archaeology with the National Crime Agency, and she is the forensic anthropology national point of contact for UK DVI – the national capability of police services to respond to mass fatality incidents. She also represents UK forensic anthropologists in the Interpol DVI Pathology and Anthropology Sub Working Group. She has extensive experience of developing and delivering professional training courses for UK and international police officers, CSIs, scientists, and medico-legal experts. This has included regularly providing instruction on advanced CSI and Crime Scene Managers courses at the College of Policing, and specialist pre-deployment training for the Royal Military Police.
Julie is current Chair of the British Association for Forensic Anthropology (BAFA), a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) and a Visiting Research Fellow in the Faculty of Science at Liverpool John Moores University. As a member of the RAI Forensic Anthropology Committee and Examination Board, she plays an active role in the certification process for forensic anthropologists and is currently working to produce standardised development routes and competency frameworks within the profession.
Julie’s research interests include the analysis of factors influencing DNA success rates in mass fatality incidents. She has also conducted post-conflict analysis of war crimes victims, examining multiple datasets to identify patterns relating to burial sites, demographic profiles of the deceased, and cause of death. She is currently researching multidisciplinary approaches to improve identification rates in under-represented population groups, including unidentified deceased migrants.