Claire Gwinnett

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Full) at University of Staffordshire

Animal smuggling and illegal wildlife trade comprise one of the most common crimes being committed on an international level. This action can affect biodiversity and most certainly increases the risk of extinction of several endangered species. Wildlife taxonomic identification is becoming routine to forensic experts. The aim of this study was to i...

Microplastics are found in agricultural soils worldwide; however, little is known about the impacts of this ubiquitous pollutant on the growth and development of crops. Microfibres are one of the dominant microplastic types found in agricultural soils. Sources of microfibres in the agricultural environment are multiple, including soil amendment app...

Understanding the transport and accumulation of microplastics is useful to determine the relative risk they pose to global biodiversity. The exact contribution of microplastic sources is hard to elucidate; therefore, investigating the Antarctic Weddell Sea, an area known for its remoteness and little human presence (i.e. limited pollution sources),...

Journal website link: www.frontiersin.org

Ground Truth Data (GTD) is data that comes from a known source, where the truth about the data is known and not inferred (FSR, 2021). The Forensic Science Regulator requires forensic units (that carry out certain forensic processes) to undertake tests against ground truth data for the purposes of quality assurance/quality control processes such as...

Plastics are ubiquitous. It has been used in human activities, from agriculture to packaging, infrastructure, and health. The wide range of usage makes plastics an omnipresent pollutant in the environment. This study investigated the abundance and type of plastics in agricultural soil in the Adana/Karataş region in Turkey, where disposable low-tunn...

Rural areas are exposed to severe environmental pollution issues fed by industrial and agricultural activities combined with poor waste and sanitation management practices, struggling to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with Agenda 2030. Rural communities are examined through a “dual approach” as both contrib...

Methods for sampling, analysis and interpretation of fresh and saltwater microplastics and anthropogenic microfibers have improved since 2004, but techniques for reducing and monitoring procedural contamination are still limited. Quantifying the amount of procedural contamination introduced to samples improves the robustness of counts of microplast...

Microplastics (MPs) are man-made polymer particles in the size range 1 μm to 5 mm. They have been proven to be present in all of Earth's environments through extensive global studies. Such studies regularly involve the isolation of MPs from water or other media using a filtration method. MPs are then commonly analysed for size and polymer type, eit...

Animal cruelty cases can involve a variety of mistreatments to domestic animals. A common source of abuse is the use of heat sources, such as ovens, hot surfaces and microwaves. Analysis of damage to skin by a veterinarian is a key aspect of these investigations but additional information can be provided by observing the hair of the animal, includi...

Due to inadequacies in historical hair examinations, the use and perceived value of microscopic hair evidence has reduced. Many reports have heavily criticised the use of pattern-based evidence including hair evidence as being unreliable, with police forces focussing on more individualising evidence. Hair evidence has been utilised in casework for...

Research on marine microplastics continues to increase in popularity, with a large number of studies being published every year. However, with this plethora of research comes the need for a standardised approach to quantification and analysis procedures in order to produce comparative assessments. Using data collected from neuston nets in 2016, par...

This paper aspires to assist those tasked with data generation and analysis for the purpose of the validation and/or optimisation of trace evidence recovery. It does so via a detailed report of the authors’ approach to this problem in the context of target fibre retrieval using self-adhesive tapes. Textile fibres can provide valuable evidence at bo...

The deep sea is the largest biome on earth, and microbes dominate in biomass and abundance. Anthropogenic litter is now almost ubiquitous in this biome, and its deposition creates new habitats and environments, including for microbial assemblages. With the ever increasing accumulation of this debris, it is timely to identify and describe the bacter...

Wildlife trafficking is classified as the fourth largest illegal commerce in the world. Taxonomic identification of wildlife is an ordinary process for forensics experts. The aim of this study was to analyze animal’s hair from Brazilian’s wildlife through microscopic and compare morphology of bristle among species analyzed. Hair samples of nine spe...

By definition, bast fibres are the structural components of the stems of plants. They are of interest in the context of composite materials as they have lower density, but may possess similar specific modulus and specific strength to glass fibres. They are also generally perceived as more ‘sustainable’ than synthetic fibres. Bast fibres are ligno-c...

Forensic fibre examination has been a fundamental part of criminal investigations for over 50 years. In this time, many important questions have had to be asked of fibres in order to understand their potential source, their ability to shed from garments, their persistence and degradation and their prevalence in different environments, including wat...

This chapter introduces some of the literature surrounding multiple choice questions (MCQs) and their design and implementation. Designing a collection of questions for MCQ formative and summative assessments is the first step towards implementation. The next stage is to identify where, when and how to use them. The variety of uses and design featu...

Trace evidence is ubiquitous at crime scenes and can be an invaluable source of intelligence and collaborative evidence for serious offences. The ability of trace evidence to transfer from suspect to victim, suspect to crime scene, and between crime scenes means that these forms of physical evidence can provide links between individuals and locatio...

Forensic entomology, although an important tool in Forensic Science, is an area of slow research growth. Larval characteristics, although not a true indication of the time since death, are beneficial in providing an indication of the time when a cadaver is populated by dipteran carrion species. (Adair, 2012). Diptera are usually the first insects t...

Plastic waste is a distinctive indicator of the world-wide impact of anthropogenic activities. Both macro- and micro-plastics are found in the ocean, but as yet little is known about their ultimate fate and their impact on marine ecosystems. In this study we present the first evidence that microplastics are already becoming integrated into deep-wat...

Significant numbers of institutions are carrying out fingermark based research, yet there appears to be little inter-institution consistency in the approaches used to assess the quality of the samples produced. Inter institution consistency in quality assessment would lead to inevitable benefits in collaborating research projects, given that data f...

CSEye, August 2016

There is growing evidence of extensive pollution of the environment by microplastic, with microfibres representing a large proportion of the microplastics seen in marine sediments. Since microfibres are ubiquitous in the environment, present in the laboratory air and water, evaluating microplastic pollution is difficult. Incidental contamination is...

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are a very well known, traditional and accepted method of assessment. The use of MCQs for testing students has produced numerous debates amongst academics concerning their effectiveness as they are viewed as practical and efficient but also perceived as possibly „too easy‟ and potentially unable to appropriately tes...