On December 21, 2023, Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise held the V Anniversary Annual International Scientific and Practical Conference “Topical Issues of Forensic Expertology, Criminalistics and Criminal Procedure”.
The conference was attended by representatives of all branches of government of Ukraine: legislative, executive and judicial. The conference was also attended by distinguished representatives of various scientific, expert institutions and international organizations.
Nearly 400 participants from more than 25 countries of all continents of the world joined the conference: The United States, Australia, Africa, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Finland, Norway and others.
Detailed information on the program, participants, and topics of reports is available here: https://kndise.gov.ua/en/conference-2023/.
The event was moderated by Nataliia Nestor, Deputy Director of KFI, Doctor of Law, Senior Researcher, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine.
The following speakers delivered welcoming remarks at the conference:
- – Andriy Haichenko, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Doctor of Philosophy in Law
- – Oleksandr Ruvin, Director of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, Doctor of Law, Senior Researcher, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine
- – Nataliia Tkachenko, Director of the Department of Expert Support of Justice of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, PhD in Law, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine
- – Oleksandr Sokolov, Deputy Director of the State Bureau of Investigation
- – Mykhailo Smokovych, Head of the Administrative Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court, Doctor of Law, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine
- – Alla Basalaeva, Head of the State Audit Service of Ukraine, Doctor of Philosophy in Law, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine
- – Vladyslav Bugasov, Acting First Deputy Head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine
- – Oleksandr Buryak, Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine
- – Dorian Kerzan, Chairman of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutions (ENFSI)
- – Ken Williams, President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)
- – Helena Trolleng, Director of the Swedish National Forensic Center (NFC)
- – Janko Kolev, President of the International Association of Forensic Sciences (IAFS)
- – Claude Roux, President of the International Association of Forensic Sciences (IAFS) (2017-2023, Australia)
- – Gregory Ducote, Director of the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (U.S. Department of Justice)
- – Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine – Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine
- – Antonel Olkers, President of the African Academy of Forensic Sciences (AFSA)
- – Oleksandr Oliynyk, Director of the Directorate of Justice and Criminal Justice, Ministry of Justice of Ukraine
- – Dmytro Zhuravlev, Deputy Head of the Department for Citizenship, Pardons, State Awards – Head of the Pardon Department of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor
- – Serhii Cherniavskyi, Vice-Rector of the National Academy of Internal Affairs, Doctor of Law, Professor, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, Police Colonel
- – Dmytro Kishko, Director of Odesa Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine
- – Mykhailo Mozhaiev, Acting Director of the Research Center for Forensic Examination in the Field of Information Technology and Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Doctor of Technical Sciences
- – Vitalii Povstianyi, Acting Head of the State Specialized Institution “Main Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine”
- – Dariusz Zuba, Director of the Krakow Research Institute of Forensic Science named after Prof. Dr. Jan Sechna, Professor of Chemical Knowledge
- – Robert Clifford, Director of the ICITAP International Program of the US Department of Justice in Ukraine
- – Aneta Pavlinska, Director of the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Police (CFLP), PhD
- – Agnieszka Łukomska, appointed Chair of ENFSI
- – Ihor Starodubov, President of the NGO “Union of Experts of Ukraine”, Director of the Center for Forensic Examination and Expert Research of the State Enterprise “Information Judicial Systems” of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, PhD in Law, certified forensic expert, appraiser
- – Cataraga Olga, Director, forensic expert of the highest category, National Center for Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, Doctor of Law
Representatives of leading forensic, scientific institutions and public authorities made presentations.
Duarte Nuno Vieira, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences, 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 Portuguese Medical-Legal Council and Member of the Portuguese National Council for Ethics in the Life Sciences, President of the International Academy of Legal Medicine, International Association of Forensic Sciences, World Police Medical Organization and European Council of Legal Medicine, (Portugal), opened hisYanko Kolev, President of the IAFS (International Association of Forensic Sciences), Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical Imaging Consultant, MD, (Bulgaria), made a presentation on 3D scanning of crime scenes and bodies, reconstruction of evidence for medical and forensic investigation, in which he demonstrated the possibilities and benefits of 3D images in forensic examination.
Antonelle Olkers, President of the African Academy of Forensic Sciences (AFSA), CEO of DNAbiotec (Pty) Ltd, PhD in Human Molecular Genetics (DNA) (Rwanda), presented a report on the need for international cooperation of AFSA.
Dariusz Zuba, Director of the Prof. Dr. Jan Sechna Krakow Research Institute of Forensic Science, Professor of Chemical Knowledge, (Poland), made a presentation describing the main threats and opportunities of using artificial intelligence in forensic science.
Svitlana Yakovleva, Judge of the Second Trial Chamber of the Criminal Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court, provided information on compensation for the damage caused by the war and the possibilities of Ukrainian justice. Currently, this topic is of concern to our entire country, to citizens suffering from Russian aggression.
Erik Krupicka, a forensic expert in the examination of images, audio and video recordings at the Institute of Forensic Sciences of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany, PhD (Germany), spoke about artificial images that can be generated by attackers using online services.
Yves Vandermeer, ECTEG Project Coordinator, Lecturer at the Norwegian Police University College and Visiting Lecturer at the Center for Cyber Security and Cybercrime Investigation (CCI, University College Dublin), Master of Science (Belgium), described the work on NTFS file system recovery in his report.
Lena Klassen, Professor of Computer Vision Laboratory, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Research Director, National Operations Department (NOA), Swedish National Police, analysis of very large and complex crime scenes using Digital Twins, (Sweden), demonstrated the benefits of using 3D technologies in the study and modeling of mass crime scenes.
In the report “Recovery of serial numbers and markings of small arms and light weapons, weapons using non-destructive technology”, Bailey Hanwood, Criminalist, Special Projects Unit, Conflict Weapons Research, PhD in Defense and Security, (Canada), described how criminals remove serial numbers from weapons and how they can be recovered or read during the examination.
The conference participants also presented other relevant reports in the field of forensic science, forensic examination and criminal procedure.
Natalia Nestor emphasized that all the reports will be published in a collection and sent to each participant of the conference. “We have held a very powerful event today. We had representatives from many countries, from almost all continents. The world’s most famous scientists in the field of forensic science took part and presented their scientific reports. I personally, our entire Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise would like to thank all of you for your willingness to participate in the conference. I hope that all the issues that we have discussed today at the conference will further help us to develop the science of forensic examination and criminalistics around the world on all continents to win justice and establish justice,” Nataliia Nestor said.
Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise expresses its gratitude to all those who took part in the V International Scientific and Practical Conference “Topical Issues of Forensic Expertology, Criminalistics and Criminal Procedure”, both as speakers and as listeners. Even under the difficult circumstances related to the military aggression of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, the conference managed to gather a large number of participants from around the world. This was an excellent testament to the unity and resilience of nations working together to achieve a common victory. After all, unity is a guarantee of peace and success!
Glory to Ukraine!
Our strength is in unity!
