FORSTAT Workshop
18th-20th September 2018
Linköping, Sweden
FORSTAT Workshop 2018 Linköping, Sweden
Dates: 18-20 September 2018
Venue: Scandic Frimurarehotellet
S:t Larsgatan 14
SE-58224 Linköping
SWEDEN
Dear Colleagues,
The tenth ENFSI FORSTAT workshop on forensic evidence and evaluation will be held in Linköping, Sweden in September 2018, from Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th September.
The intention of the series of FORSTAT workshops is to train forensic scientists in the statistical evaluation of evidence. During the meetings ideas concerning the application of statistical methods in the forensic field and how the methods work in practice will be presented. Participants are not expected to have much prior statistical knowledge. The level of the presentations is aimed at those who are forensic experts but may be beginners in statistics.
The workshop in 2018 will have several topics scheduled to enable people who are not able to come to the whole workshop still to benefit from a partial attendance. The programme includes:
•Evaluation of evidence as a general concept
•Interpretation and evaluation of DNA evidence
•Chemometric methods in forensic science,
•Data analysis for evidence evaluation, including multivariate analysis (data for which more than one characteristic is measured on each member of the dataset),
•Inference at an activity level and Bayesian networks.
Lecturers will include Colin Aitken from the University of Edinburgh, Tereza Neocleous from the University of Glasgow, Grzegorz Zadora from the Institute of Forensic Research in Krakow, Roberto Puch-Solis from Eurofins (UK), and Anders Nordgaard from the National Forensic Centre of the Swedish Police Authority.
The programme will involve both lectures and practical exercises. Participants are asked to bring a laptop with them. We want participants to be able to download specialist open-source software to their laptops for use with the practical exercises. Those with laptops provided by work should check in advance that this is permissible.
Details of the programme
The topics will be spread over the days according to the following schedule
DateTimeMomentLiterature
18 Sep08:00Workshop starts
MorningEvidence evaluation; DNA evidenceRSS reports, ENFSI Guideline
AfternoonDNA evidence; evidence evaluation
19 SepMorningEvidence evaluation; ChemometricsRSS reports, GZ book
AfternoonChemometrics; Bayes netsGZ book, RSS reports,
Bayes net book
20 SepMorningBayes nets; case assessmentsBayes net book, RSS reports
12:30Workshop ends
The RSS reports are four reports published by the Royal Statistical Society, with support from the Nuffield Foundation, on the general theme of ‘Communicating and interpreting statistical evidence in the administration of criminal justice’. The titles of the four guides are
1. Fundamentals of probability and statistical evidence in criminal proceedings.
2. Assessing the probative value of DNA evidence.
3. The Logic of Forensic Proof: Inferential Reasoning in Criminal Evidence and Forensic Science (a gentle introduction to Bayes nets for lawyers).
4. Case assessment and interpretation.
All four reports are available for download from
Where necessary, material will be updated to account for advances since the dates of publication of the reports and the date of the workshop. There are two books which are relevant for the workshop and which will form the basis for some of the presentations. The books are
• Zadora,G., Martyna,A., Ramos,D. and Aitken, C.G.G. (2014) Statistical Analysis in Forensic Science: Evidential Value of Multivariate Physicochemical Data. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. This is denoted ‘GZ book’ in the programme.
• Taroni,F., Biedermann,A., Bozza,S., Garbolino,P. and Aitken,C.G.G. (2014) Bayesian networks for probabilistic inference and decision analysis in forensic science (2nd edition) John Wiley and Sons Ltd. This is denoted ‘Bayes net book’ in the programme.
The evidence evaluation sessions will be based on the ENFSI publication ‘Guideline for Evaluative Reporting in Forensic Science’.Practical work, except for Bayes nets, will be based on the statistical software package R ( org/). The practical session on Bayes nets will discuss examples and use the software package Genie (
How to get to the venue
Linköping has 2-3 daily direct flights to/from Amsterdam Schiphol. The venue is approximately 5-10 mins by taxi from Linköping City Airport and should cost approximately 200 SEK (about 20 EUR). There are no bus lines operating the airport, the nearest bus stop is 10 minutes’ walk from the airport. More information about bus lines can be found at If you enjoy walking and the weather is nice you can walk from the airport to the conference venue (walking distance is about 2.7 km).
It is also possible to fly to Stockholm/Arlanda or to Copenhagen (Denmark) and then take a direct train to Linköping. Information about trains can be found at From the train station (Linköpings Resecentrum) it is a very short walk to the conference venue.
Moreover, Ryanair and Wizz air are operating Stockholm-Skavsta airport (Nyköping), which is about 100 km from Linköping. There are shuttle buses from that airport to Linköping, more information at
Currency
Swedencurrency is Swedish krona (SEK).
Workshop Registration fee
The registration fee is SEK 5200.
For payment, see below
The registration fee includes
- Conference materials
- 3 lunches
- 2 dinners
- Refreshment breaks
(drinks besides water are not included in lunches and dinners)
Up to 4 students (certification needed) can get a discount of SEK 1700, i.e. a reduced fee of SEK 3500. To get this discount the principle is ‘first come, first served’. When registering, attach a scanned certificate signed by your supervisor/examiner.
Accommodation
Accommodation is NOT included in the Registration fee and must be booked separately by delegates themselves, well in advance. A block reservation of bedrooms, with discount, has been made at Scandic Frimurarehotellet. The cost is about SEK 1140.00 per person and night. This price includes breakfast, wi-fi and Swedish sales tax (‘VAT’).
Please make bookings directly with the hotel, and quote booking reference NFC180918 when booking.:
Tel:+46 13 495 30 00
email:
Website:
Other hotels fairly close to the meeting venue are
- Best Western Stångå (
- Park hotel (e-mail: info(at)fawltytowers.se) web-site in Swedish:
- Hotell Östergyllen (
- Scandic Linköping City (
- Elite Stora Hotellet (
Registration, deadlines and payment of registration fee
The number of participants is limited to 20. A registration form is attached to this letter. For registration, please complete this form and send it to .
Deadline for registration is 15th August 2018.
Please, note that registration is binding. Registrations may be accepted after the deadline provided the limit of the number of participants has not been reached. Should the number of registrations be too few at the time-point of the deadline, the workshop may have to be cancelled. Fees already paid, will then of course be paid back.
Upon registration an invoice will be sent to the address of your institute/organisation you have provided in your registration form. Registrations without providing this address will not be valid. The deadline for payment will be printed on the invoice.
For more information, please contact Anders Nordgaard () or Johanna Max ().
Welcome to Linköping!
FORSTAT Workshop
18th-20th September 2018
Linköping, Sweden
REGISTRATION FORM
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Deadlines
Deadline for registration: 15th August 2018
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