Vivienne Heaton

I was appointed as a lecturer in forensic biology and anthropology at Keele University in 2016, after completing my undergraduate studies in behavioural and environmental biology at the University of St. Andrews, followed by an MSc and PhD in forensic anthropology and entomology at the University of Central Lancashire. In between my studies I have also been employed by Lancashire Constabulary in a number of different roles, originally based in the Force Major Investigation Team, before moving on to Scientific Support and then Contact Management, where I worked as an emergency call handler and police radio dispatcher. I have attended numerous postmortem examinations and assisted with both national and international casework. My research currently focuses on identifying the variables that influence decomposition, increasing accuracy in time of death estimates, modelling the thermodynamics of maggot masses, and determining the most appropriate search methods, with a focus on water-based casework.