Forensic scientists prepare traces of physical evidence for use in courts of law.
£20,000 Starter
to£45,000 Experienced
37 to 40 a week
on call at short notice
You can get into this job through:
You can do a degree or postgraduate qualification in:
It may help to choose a university qualification accredited by The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences.
You'll usually need:
You may be able to start by doing a laboratory scientist higher or degree apprenticeship.
It will help if you do your aprenticeship with a company that provides forensic science services, or with a police force that has its own in-house lab facilities.
You'll usually need:
You can apply directly to forensic services providers if you've got a lot of lab experience, and qualifications in science, especially chemistry.
If you want to specialise in recovering data from computers and mobile phones, you'll need relevant experience and qualifications. Useful subjects include computing, electrical engineering, electronics or physics.
You can find out more on careers in forensics from The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences.
You'll need:
You'll need to:
In this role you could be:
You could work on the streets, in a laboratory or in a court.
Your working environment may be outdoors in all weathers and emotionally demanding.
You may need to wear protective clothing.
With experience, you could move into management and direct other forensics staff as a forensics manager or casework examiner.
You could also work as a reporting scientist, acting as an expert witness in court.