Dr Lauren Dempster, Institute Fellow: Rights and Social Justice, has been awarded just over £290,000 from the AHRC Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship for her project 'Forensic Scientists and Knowledge Production in Transitional Justice'.

This AHRC Fellowship Scheme allows researchers to carry out high-quality research in any area covered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It also provides the opportunity to develop capabilities as research specialists and to undertake innovative and collaborative development activities.

Over an 18 month period, Lauren will explore the role of forensic scientists in transitional justice, specifically in the context of efforts to recover the disappeared.

This will involve investigating what knowledge forensic scientists produce - and how, the factors that influence or impede on this knowledge production work, and the ways in which this knowledge can shape or influence transitional justice mechanisms and outcomes. In addition, she will explore what we can learn from the work of forensic scientists about knowledge production in transitional justice as a field - this is an area that has come under increased scrutiny in light of critiques that the field has a neo-colonial tendency, with Global North scholarship and practice dominating the field.

The featured image has been used courtesy of Louis Reed, Unsplash.