Patrick Kavanagh's Epic poem provides a fitting first line for a reflection of the times we find ourselves in within Forensic Science. As a relatively young discipline (in the grand scheme of things) we are going through our growing pains, not just in the UK, but globally. We are restructuring, refocusing, revaluating, re- re- re-....The influence of a corporate culture, silo mentality, budgetary constraints, poor or ill-informed decision making and a great deal of weariness takes its toll and provides us with both business and personal challenges.However, times of change bring great opportunity and I believe that another grand challenge faces us; to step outside of the day to day and allow ourselves to take a broader view of the development of forensic science as "a science". To meet this challenge we require a body of reliable knowledge relating to our specific disciplines that can be logically and rationally explained (at least according to Aristotle). Part of achieving this will be the development of our research base in line with any branch of science, so that we become more than a mere 'application'. This needs to be proper research, not instant gratification research; but the slow burning systematic investigation of knowledge that is necessary, achievable and worthwhile as a serious scientific endeavour.
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