Course Description

In conjunction with the Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University, this intensive short course is delivered by The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM), Australia’s largest multi-disciplinary centre for forensic medical and scientific services. The primary focus of this course is the principles and practice of the analysis and interpretation of skeletal trauma from the perspective of the Forensic Anthropologist.

Course content includes detailed lectures and interactive sessions on trauma biomechanics, blunt force trauma, low and high velocity projectile trauma, sharp force trauma and taphonomic processes. This unique course is the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and will enable participants to apply principles and learnings to real case scenarios. It is relevant to professionals and students involved in the analysis of human skeletal remains including forensic anthropologists, forensic pathologists (and registrars), biological archaeologists and heritage officers. A basic knowledge of human osteology is required to participate. Lectures will be delivered by medico-legal and forensic science experts from the VIFM and external
organisations.

Course Objectives

At the end of the course participants will have:

• an understanding of the role of different experts in the analysis and interpretation of skeletal

  trauma;

• a basic understanding of the biomechanics of skeletal trauma;

  knowledge of different types of trauma including blunt force, sharp force and high and low

  velocity projectile trauma;

• an understanding of the complexity of interpreting the timing of skeletal trauma;

• knowledge about the importance of taphonomy in the context of interpreting skeletal defects;

• an understanding of the role of post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) in the context of

  analysing and interpreting skeletal trauma, and

• awareness of the limitations when giving evidence in court related to skeletal trauma.