1. Home
  2. Teaching Research
  3. Our Research

Our Research

One of VIFM’s founding principles is to undertake research that will benefit the community, and we’re proud that our research has significantly contributed to death and injury prevention both domestically and internationally, and has impacted positively on the integrity of the Coronial and criminal justice systems.

Furthermore, these academic activities in medicine, law and science are fundamental to the VIFM’s credibility in the courts and allow us to maintain a highly professional standing in national and international medical, legal, and scientific communities.

The sensitive nature of our research necessitates high levels of oversight and ethical practices and governance is a vital component of our research. This ensures and protects the integrity and legitimacy of our research outcomes, whilst ensuring privacy and confidentiality for research study populations.

Our research may be produced and published directly by our own staff, in collaboration with the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash University, or in collaboration with other medico-legal departments, bodies or universities.

LATEST RESEARCH PAPERS

Benchmarking KinSNP®: A study on genetic relationship prediction for forensic applications.

R. Daniel, J. Raymond, A. Sears, N. Scudder, D. Hartman
Forensic Science International | Volume 383 | June 2026
Accurate kinship inference is a cornerstone of forensic DNA analysis, particularly in cases involving unidentified human remains in the absence of direct reference samples or when suitable familial antemortem samples are lacking. This study evaluates the performance of KinSNP®, a forensic software tool developed by Othram, for predicting genetic relationships using whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. The findings provide further evidence to support the utility of KinSNP® as a secure, offline solution for SNP-based kinship analysis in forensic contexts, including disaster victim identification and long-term missing person investigations.
LINK TO RESEARCH PUBLISHER

The frequency, patterning and morphology of thorax fractures resulting from cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the paediatric (0–3 years) population.

Samantha Rowbotham
Pathology Update 2026 Abstracts Supplement RCPA | February 2026
When cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has been administered in cases of suspected child abuse, it is difficult to differentiate if thorax fractures were the result of CPR or physical abuse. Cases of non-traumatic paediatric deaths where CPR occurred were collected from 2007–2020 from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, with descriptive and bivariate analyses were used to document fracture patterns and types and investigate how the variables influenced fracturing. The research findings provide an empirical evidence base for interpreting if thorax fractures may be attributed to CPR.
LINK TO RESEARCH PUBLISHER

Prevalence of psychoactive drugs in injured drivers over 10 years in Victoria, Australia.

Matthew Di Rago, Dimitri Gerostamoulus, Carla Morris, Gemma Wynd, Noel W. Woodford, Olaf H. Drummer AO.
Forensic Science International | Volume 380 | February 2026
One thousand of the mandatory blood specimens taken from injured drivers attending a hospital over a decade were analyzed for a full range of legal and illegal drugs in an accredited forensic toxicology laboratory with confirmation by a validated LC-MS/MS procedure. The presence of more than one common illicit drug (THC, methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine, heroin), with or without ethanol, increased from 4.3 % in the first 5 years to 5.8 % in the last five years, which may reflect a higher crash risk for those drivers.
LINK TO RESEARCH PUBLISHER

Characteristics of infant deaths with positive hair toxicology.

N. Thomson, J. Fronczek, M. Lynch, J.L. Schumann
Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology | Open Source | January 2026
Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) is the term given to all unexpected infant deaths, comprising accidental, non-accidental and natural deaths including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). All infant deaths between 1st January 2014 and 31st of December 2023 with positive hair toxicology in the state of Victoria, Australia, were reviewed for toxicology results, pathology findings and SIDS risk factors. Our study revealed a pattern of cumulative risk factors for SIDS among infants with positive hair toxicology – this is especially important given the high number of infant deaths which remain unascertained following investigation.
READ FULL PAPER

ChatGPT’s performance on a specialist forensic pathology examination: implications for forensic pathologists
and non-specialists.

Hans H. de Boer, Gregory Young, Heinrich Bouwer, Karen J. Heath
International Journal of Legal Medicine | December 2025
The use of artificially intelligent Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT is increasing rapidly in medicine, but their accuracy, reasoning quality, and contextual safety remains an issue. This is especially relevant for forensic pathology, where balanced reasoning, contextual sensitivity, and precise communication are essential. We performed an in-depth assessment of ChatGPT’s capabilities and limitations for forensic pathology, which also improves our understanding of the risks and benefits of LLM use in medicine more broadly. ChatGPT can reliably reproduce well-established forensic pathology knowledge. However, it lacks the capabilities needed for higher-level tasks and often generates unjustifiably confident and misleading output.
LINK TO RESEARCH PUBLISHER

Determination of normal post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) parameters for the temporomandibular joint.

Megane Beaugeois, Chris O’Donnell, Lyndal Bugeja, Richard Huggins, Joanna Glengarry
International Journal of Legal Medicine | Open Source | May 2025
Post-mortem radiology, particularly post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT), has become an important tool in forensic death investigation, offering valuable insights into the cause and manner of death. The objective of this study was to define the normal configuration of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) in the post-mortem setting, using a newly developed measurement method, the TMJ PAT (perpendicular assessment tool), to assess the relationship between the mandibular condyle and the articular eminence on PMCT scans. The study’s findings enhance the understanding of post-mortem TMJ anatomy and provide a reliable tool for distinguishing normal from abnormal TMJ configurations, crucial for accurate analysis in the death investigation setting.
WINNER: “Best Technical Article, Note or Case Study”: ANZPAA NIFS Best Paper Awards 2025
READ FULL PAPER

Changes over time in novel benzodiazepines contributing to fatal overdoses in Victoria, Australia.

Jennifer L. Schumann, Rebekka Syrjanen, Jeremy A. Dwyer
Drug and Alcohol Review | Volume 44 | Open Source | April 2025
Novel benzodiazepines (NBZN) have increased in availability and use since the mid-2000s, with a corresponding rise in associated harms including deaths. The study used data from the Victorian Overdose Deaths Register to explore which specific NBZNs and combinations of NBZNs contributed over time to Victorian overdose deaths between January 2009 and December 2023. The findings reflect the transiency of NBZNs in Victoria’s unregulated drug market and highlight the importance of certain harm reduction measures in addressing increasing NBZN use.
READ FULL PAPER

Retrospective review of forensic entomology casework in eastern Australia from 1994 to 2022.

Matt Krosch, Nikolas Johnston, Kirby Law, James Wallman, Melanie Archer
Forensic Science International | Volume 367 | February 2025
Forensic entomology can be a crucial source of information for medicolegal investigations, with its most well-known application being for estimating minimum post-mortem interval (mPMI) in death investigations. This project collated and analysed data from expert forensic entomological casework reports for five eastern Australia jurisdictions (South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland) for a period spanning nearly thirty years (1994–2022). The accuracy and investigative ‘value’ of mPMI estimates was assessed, which demonstrated that entomology-derived timeframes are largely reliable. The paper reports the first records in Australian casework for several species and highlight several areas that require additional research to fill critical gaps in our knowledge. Overall, this review represents highly practical real-world data that will be of enduring benefit to the forensic community.
COMMENDATION: “Best Technical Article, Note or Case Study”: ANZPAA NIFS Best Paper Awards 2025
LINK TO RESEARCH PUBLISHER