On December 20, 2024, the VI Annual International Scientific and Practical Conference ‘Current Issues of Forensic Expertology, Criminalistics and Criminal Procedure’ was held in a mixed format, which was attended by more than 200 criminologists, experts and scientists from more than 30 countries. The conference was moderated by Nataliia Nestor, Deputy Director of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Ruvin, Director of the KFI, Andrii Haichenko, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Mykhailo Smokovych, Chairman of the Cassation Administrative Court within the Supreme Court, heads of regional state administrations; Nataliia Kozlovska, Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine, Chief Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine, Yurii Vlasenko, Chairman of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities, Serhii Perkhun, Acting Director of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine; Yurii Chechil, Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute of Special Equipment and Forensic Expertise of the Security Service of Ukraine; Vadym Dziubynskyi, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine; Oleksandr Shkuropat, Deputy Head of the State Audit Service of Ukraine; Caroline Baker, Head of the International Criminal Court Mission to Ukraine; Andrea Ledic, Director of the Ivan Vuchetich Forensic Center; Robert Clifford, Director of the ICITAP International Program of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine; Antonel Olkers, President of the African Academy of Forensic Sciences; Charles Ken Williams, President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; Agnieszka Lukomska, appointed chairman of ENFSI; Janko Kolev, President of the International Association of Forensic Sciences; Olga Cataraga, Director of the National Center for Forensic Sciences of the Ministry of Justice of Moldova and other high-ranking officials.

The conference participants were presented with reports by Duarto Nuno Vieira, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminalistics, Ethics and Medical Law at the University of Coimbra, Chief Medical Examiner and National Director of the Portuguese National Institute of Forensic Medicine, President of the International Academy of Forensic Medicine, the International Association of Forensic Sciences, the World Association of Police Medical Officers and the European Council of Forensic Medicine (Portugal); Naomi Morrow, Regional Export Control Officer, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce; Claude Roux, Director of the Center for Forensic Science, Sydney University of Technology, President of the International Association of Forensic Sciences, Australia; Simon Wyss, Head of the Materials Research Group, Zurich Institute of Forensic Science, Switzerland; Ping Huang, Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, and other foreign scientists and practitioners.

Among the national speakers were Artem Kovalenko, senior researcher at the Research Laboratory of Public Safety of Communities of Faculty #2 of Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs; Polina Antoniuk, professor of the Department of Criminalistics and Forensic Medicine at the National Academy of Internal Affairs; Olesia Vashchuk, professor of the Department of Criminalistics, Detective and Operational Investigation Activities at the National University “Odesa Law Academy”, Oleh Ananyn, Deputy Head of the Department of Scientific, Methodological, Organizational and Administrative Support of the Main Forensic Center of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine; Yaroslav Melnyk, Senior Researcher at the Department of Research on Lawmaking and Adaptation of Ukrainian Legislation to EU Law of the Institute of Lawmaking and Scientific and Legal Expertise of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Oleksii Oderiy, Professor of the Department of Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics of the Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs and other leading Ukrainian scholars and practitioners.

The conference once again demonstrated that despite the difficult conditions of constant shelling, power outages and infrastructure damage, Ukrainian forensic scientists and experts, with the support of the international community, continue to adequately fulfill the tasks entrusted to them by society, responding to all changes and innovations and demonstrating an unwavering will to improve their professional skills.

The KFI confidently proves that it is the leading forensic institution of Ukraine, and thanks to its numerous international connections, an institution of European and international level.