Prof. Claire Turner, Professor of Analytical Science

Copyright: The Open University Claire is an analytical scientist with almost 30 years’ experience. Her research has been applied to analysing biological systems to infer information about the state of those systems and focused on things that cannot be seen with the naked eye, e.g. bacteria, viruses, or molecules. Most recently, her research has been predominantly on biomarker discovery for the diagnosis of disease. The techniques and methods used in her research in analytical science are also used in forensic science, which is a subset of analytical science.

Claire's formal education has been interdisciplinary, with undergraduate degrees in chemistry and biochemistry and a PhD in biochemical engineering, and further studies around computing, maths and physics. With this background, it may not be surprising that she is very interested in the teaching of interdisciplinary science, believing that many applications require a wider education. She is also interested in helping unconfident learners access higher education, particularly in STEM disciplines. She has taught at all higher education study stages from access to postgraduate around topics including analytical science, health science, introductory science as well as forensic science

Claire has been involved in BBC TV and radio programmes, and also has delivered public lectures, mostly around her research but also more generally on interdisciplinary science. She has also produced some popular science articles and videos, for example:

• Is chocolate good for you?
• Perilous Pastime of Poison
• The Story of Infection

In addition to this, Claire authored the free course Forensic Science and Fingerprints.

Find out more about Claire’s academic experience and research in her academic profile.

Dr Jim Turner, Lecturer in Forensic Psychology

Copyright: The Open University  Jim has been researching and teaching in applied cognitive and forensic psychology since 1997, when he began his doctorate exploring the cognitive psychology of facial compositing (using the E-FIT system). He has since continued to teach and research in applied cognitive and forensic psychology, leading an undergraduate forensic psychology module at the University of Westminster before joining The Open University as a lecturer in 2006.

Since joining the Open University he has developed three postgraduate forensic psychology modules, Forensic Psychology: Crime, Offenders and Policing, Forensic Psychology: Witnesses, Experts and Evidence on Trial, and a new module Investigating Forensic Psychology which launched in October 2018. Investigating Forensic Psychology covers a broad range of important forensic topics, including eyewitness evidence and identification, jury decision-making, terrorism, cybercrime, offender profiling, violent and sexual offending, and expert evidence. He has also worked on a number of undergraduate psychology modules, most recently producing the applied psychology module Living Psychology: From the Everyday to the Extraordinary which covers a wide variety of real-world issues, including some relevant to the understanding of scientific evidence.

A short description of Jim's primary research interest would be ‘applying psychology to criminal investigations’. he began with a focus on eyewitness identification, including facial compositing and line-up procedures. In recent years, he has also become interested in the role of forensic evidence in police investigations and how such evidence is perceived and understood by the general public, in particular the ‘CSI Effect’. The shorthand explanation of this proposed effect is that (1) most people learn about forensic evidence from TV and films; (2) most depictions on TV and in films are wrong; (3) people therefore think forensic investigators can do things that, in reality, they can’t. His research thus far has indicated that this is the case, although we do not yet know if the consequent suggestion in the literature that this affects jury decisions also holds true – this is still an open question within the field.

Jim has also been involved in public engagement with forensic psychological issues, including a number of ‘Witnessing Psychology’ free public events as a member of the Forensic Cognition Research Group (FCRG) within the School of Psychology and Counselling, has written and edited online articles for our inter-disciplinary Criminology, Psychology and History research centre (ICCCR), and was a contributor to a discussion panel on the psychology of forensic evidence at the launch of the inter-disciplinary Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative (HERC).

Find out more about Jim’s academic experience and research in his academic profile.

Dr Maria Velasco-Garcia, Senior Lecturer in Analytical Sciences

Copyright: The Open University Maria's main research interest is in new and emerging bio-analytical and bio-diagnostic techniques, particularly chemical sensors and biosensors and their exploitation at the point-of care in medical and veterinary diagnostics.

Before joining the OU, Maria worked for a BBSRC-sponsored institute focused on agricultural and biosystems engineering, designing a wide range of bio-sensing prototypes for solving issues in animal welfare and health and production efficiency. Currently, diseases are controlled with vaccines and drugs but emergence of antibiotic- and drug-resistant pathogens means that diseases will continue to be a problem and moreover the use of antibiotics is becoming more severely restricted. Her work offered an alternative to promote animal health and welfare through disease prevention rather than cure.

At The Open University Maria led a project funded by the World Cancer Research Fund developing new methods for the non-invasive measurements of urinary biomarkers of DNA that are related to diet and the risk of colorectal cancer

Maria has worked in the production and delivery of work-based learning modules in Analytical Sciences, working with employers and regulators to identify needs and skill gaps. These modules developed practical skills and understanding of the science underpinning analytical work in the laboratory. She recently been appointed as the Qualification Lead for the new Laboratory Scientist Degree Apprenticeships.

As well as developing a range of online and remote access experiments for science modules, she has dynamically support students in the virtual laboratory environment.OU Live events

Working with other chemists in the School, Maria lead the level 1 chemistry live web broadcasts from our teaching labs in Milton Keynes. These successful labcasts provide an opportunity to demonstrate live experiments, discuss cutting-edge research and provide links to the OU's chemistry curriculum. Aiming at building a science community early on in OU students’ studies, Maria has been heavily involved in the running of level 1 live science debates.

Maria has been master of ceremonies for the Christmas Chemistry School Lecture at Walton Hall. And in the past she also participated in the Big Nature Day at the Natural History Museum, showcasing the OpenScience Laboratory and iSpot.

Find out more about Maria’s academic experience and research in her academic profile.