Adrian Linacre has been active in the area of wildlife forensic science for many decades conducting research and presenting evidence in court. He was the editor of the book ‘Forensic Science in wildlife Investigations’ and co-author of ‘Wildlife DNA Analyses’. In 2011 he chaired the ISFG Commission into non-human DNA typing which made 11 recommendations to ensure best practice. His belief is that non-human DNA testing, as in wildlife forensic science, should be performed to the same standards as that of human DNA identification. In 2012 he was invited to join the editorial team at Forensic Science International: Genetics and has specialized in handling submissions on wildlife DNA ever since as an associate editor. He is not only a regular attendee at ISFG congresses, but also a member of the Society for Wildlife Forensic Science.

Email: adrian.linacre@flinders.edu.au

Teacher in WS 9 – Wildlife DNA typing

Andreas Tillmar, PhD, works as a forensic geneticist at the National Board of Forensic Medicine, Sweden and as a senior lecturer and associated professor of forensic genetics at Linköping University, Sweden. He is well experienced from working over 15 years in the field. During these years he has signed more than 20,000 reports on DNA-based paternity, kinship and missing person investigations. His current tasks include technical leadership mixed with R&D. His research is focused on various topics of forensic genetics such as applying new genetic polymorphisms for complex kinship testing, applied biostatistics, population genetics and most recently investigative genetic genealogy. He is the main, senior or co-author of more than 40 peer-reviewed articles. He is the chairman of the English Speaking Working Group (ESWG) of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG). A detailed CV can be found at the website below.

Email: andreas.tillmar@rmv.se

Teacher in WS 2.1: Inference of relationships: Basic kinship statistics

Teacher in WS 2.2: Inference of relationships: Advanced kinship statistics

Arwin Ralf started working at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Manfred Kayser in 2009. Throughout the years he worked on many different projects and subjects within the field of forensic genetics. However, he gained most expertise in the field of Y chromosomal research. In December 2022 he successfully defended his PhD thesis which revolved about the identification of additional rapidly mutating Y-STRs and how these Y-STRs could revolutionize the field forensic Y chromosome analysis.

Email: a.ralf@erasmusmc.nl

Teacher in WS 7.1 – Y-chromosome interpretation: extended/new methodologies on Y-SNPs and Y-STRs

Dr. Athina Vidaki is an expert in forensic genomics and assistant professor in applied & translational epigenomics at the Department of Genetic Identification at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Since 2021, she leads her own research group consisting of both experimental and computational scientists, focusing on DNA methylation profiling for both forensic and medical applications. With a technology-driven focus and implementation-oriented mind, her group aims to discover novel epigenomic variation using state-of-the-art, large-scale data, build/benchmark innovative epigenomic technologies, and develop/standardize robust assays to translate findings into practice, in the clinic or in court. For her research in forensic/personalized epigenetics, she has been awarded the best oral presentation award by ISFG (2015), the young investigator award by ISABS (2017) and two EUR/Erasmus MC fellowships (2018/2020). Beyond epigenomics and via collaborations, she has also contributed to genomic, RNA and microbiome studies. She has published >30 scientific articles, 1 book chapter, >50 conference abstracts and has already delivered >35 invited lectures at various scientific institutions and conferences. She has acted as a reviewer for >30 journals including Genome Biology, Aging, Epigenomics, Epigenetics & Chromatin, Frontiers in Genetics and Forensic Science International: Genetics, while she is currently a Deputy Editor at Electrophoresis. Finally, she teaches forensic (epi)genetics to multiple educational programs at Erasmus MC and worldwide.

Email: a.vidaki@erasmusmc.nl

Teacher in WS 3: Forensic Epigenetics: Basic concepts, methods and applications

Dr. Brian Young is Courtesy Professor at Florida International University Global Forensic and Justice Center. Prior to his work at GFJC, Dr. Young worked at Battelle Memorial Institute where he conducted research in trace analysis.  In 2010 he founded Battelle’s Applied Genomics group to conduct research into the application of NGS technology to forensic DNA analysis. Dr. Young co-authored an early study on the analysis of Forensic NGS data (2012), developed a software approach to analyzing forensic DNA samples (ExactID™, 2013), and in collaboration with CosmosID co-authored one of the first studies characterizing the human salivary microbiome (2014). While at Battelle, Dr. Young was awarded an Innovation Grant from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) for his work on applying likelihood ratio statistical techniques to the interpretation of Measurements and Signatures Intelligence (MASINT) data. In collaboration with NicheVision Forensics he contributes to software designs for the analysis of NGS data.  He led the development of MixtureAce™ software for analysis of NGS data from mixed human DNA samples and the SID hash-based nomenclature for DNA sequences. He has developed improved methods for setting limits of detection in NGS methods, characterizing precision and accuracy in NGS methods, filtering STR artifacts based on machine learning, filtering NUMT sequences from mtDNA samples, and for analyzing microhap markers. Dr. Young received a Ph.D. in plant genetics from Ohio State University.

Email: bryoung@fiu.edu

Teacher in WS 6 – Mini-symposium: An introduction to and the use of microhaplotypes in forensics

Charla Marshall is Chief of the Emerging Technologies Section at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System’s Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFMES-AFDIL). She is a molecular anthropologist by training and has a background in ancient DNA. Marshall’s group develops and validates new MPS/NGS methods to improve DNA-assisted identification of missing US service members. Current efforts are focused on SNP-based extended kinship analyses and mitochondrial genome sequencing, both for degraded DNA and reference quality samples. Other active areas of research are DNA extraction and library preparation for improved DNA recovery. Aside from her work at the AFMES-AFDIL, Marshal is a member of the FBI’s SWGDAM body on the NGS Committee, an editorial board member of FSI:Genetics, and an adjunct professor at the Pennsylvania State University.

Email: marshall.charla@gmail.com

Teacher in WS 11 – MPS mtDNA: Analysis and interpretation

Christophe Champod received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. (summa cum laude) both in Forensic Science, from the University of Lausanne, in 1990 and 1995 respectively. Remained in academia until holding the position of assistant professor in forensic science. From 1999 to 2003, he led the Interpretation Research Group of the Forensic Science Service (UK) where he built his first Bayesian Networks, before taking a full professorship position at the School of Criminal Justice (ESC) of the University of Lausanne. He is in charge of education and research on identification methods and maintains an activity as an expert witness in these areas. Since 2021, he is at the Director of the ESC. In 2015, he received the Distinguished ENFSI (European Network of Forensic science) Scientist Award for his contribution to forensic science, and in 2020 he received the Doug Lucas Medal of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. His research is devoted to the inferential aspects associated with forensic identification techniques. The value to be attached to forensic findings is at the core of his interests.

Email: christophe.Champod@unil.ch

Teacher in WS 5.1: Evaluation of biological results given activity level propositions using Bayesian networks: Basic

Christopher Phillips is a Researcher in forensic genetics at the Forensic Genetics Unit, Institute of Forensic Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain - a post he has held since 2001. His research interests focus on SNPs; forensic ancestry analysis; novel autosomal STRs applied to forensic identification and ancestry inference; development of Indels for forensic DNA analyses; forensic DNA phenotyping; online population variation databases (e.g., SPSmart); open-access data analysis tools (e.g., Snipper); forensic age estimation using methylation analysis; MPS-based sequencing and issues around the alignment, nomenclature and description of STR sequence variation. He is a member of: EDNAP and the STRAND and Forensic DNA Phenotyping ISFG Working Groups. In 2019 he was a co-awardee of the ISFG Scientific Prize.

Email: c.phillips@mac.com

Teacher in WS 1.1: Biogeographical ancestry analyses: Basic

Teacher in WS 6: Mini-symposium: An introduction to and the use of microhaplotypes in forensics

Claus Børsting started his academic career as a molecular biologist. During his MSc and PhD studies at Odense University in Denmark, he worked with basic molecular biology techniques involving DNA, RNA, and protein analyses. This line of work was continued as a postdoctoral fellow at Albany Medical College in Albany, New York, USA (1998-2000).

In 2001, Claus was employed as a Forensic Geneticist at the Section of Forensic Genetics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was trained as a reporting officer in paternity and immigration case work. Claus joined the research group at the Section in 2002, when the EU sponsored SNPforID consortium (2002-2006) was formed, and he held positions as assistant Professor (2004-2007) and Senior Advisor (2010-2018) before becoming a Senior researcher in 2018. In 2007, he validated and implemented the SNPforID HID assay for relationship case work according to the ISO17025 standard and became the manager of the SNP laboratory. From 2012 and onwards, Claus has been the daily manager of the research group at the Section of Forensic Genetics. The main focus of his current research is to explore the use of next generation sequencing in forensic genetics.

Email: claus.boersting@sund.ku.dk

Teacher in WS 1.2: Biogeographical ancestry interpretation: Advanced

Cordula Haas is head of the research team at the Forensic Genetics department, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Her main research interests are mRNA profiling and genetic determinants in sudden unexplained death cases.

Email: cordula.haas@irm.uzh.ch

Teacher in WS 12 – Body fluid identification with main focus on RNA

Corina Benschop is a forensic research scientist employed at the Netherlands Forensic Institute since 2005. She has a background in molecular biology and a PhD degree in Forensic Genetics. Primarily, Corina performs and supervises research studies regarding the interpretation of complex DNA-profiles. She is involved in the development and validation of methods (e.g. LoCIM, LRmix Studio, SmartRank, DNAxs, DNAStatistX), implementation into forensic casework, defining guidelines for best practice, and providing training in many (international) mixture interpretation workshops. Since this year, Corina is the Representative for Education and Training of the ISFG.

Email: c.benschop@nfi.nl

Teacher in WS 8.1 – Mixture interpretation: Basic use of the software EuroForMix and DNAStatistX

Teacher in WS 8.2 – Mixture interpretation: Advanced. Using EuroForMix, DNAStatistX and accompanying software

Dr. Daniel Kling currently has a research position at the forensic genetics section at the National Boards of Forensic Medicine in Sweden. Kling has a PhD in biostatistics focusing on forensic applications from Norway where he has worked at the forensic institute for the last 10 years. His research has focused on implementation of statistical methods to infer genetic relationships. He is the developer of the freely available software suites Familias, FamLink and FamLinkX. All of which are widely use in the forensic community.

More recently Kling has moved to the Swedish forensic lab and together with co-worker Andreas Tillmar initiated research into the field of genetic genealogy. The motivation is the recent advance of direct-to-consumer tests using high density SNP data to infer distant relationships and in particular, the use of these methods by legal authorities to trace relatives of donors of biologial traces or missing persons.

Kling is responsible for the conceptualization and arrangment of the annual proficiency test hosted by the English Speaking Working Group (ESWG), part of the ISFG. He has further authored a number of publications and two books on the topic inference of genetic relationships.

Email: daniel.Kling@rmv.se

Teacher in WS 2.1: Inference of relationships: Basic kinship statistics

Teacher in WS 2.2: Inference of relationships: Advanced kinship statistics

Dr. Daniel Standage is Principal Investigator of Bioinformatics at the National Bioforensic Analysis Center (NBFAC) in Frederick, MD. Dr. Standage develops methods and software to support detection, characterization, and attribution of microbial pathogens in criminal investigations. His interests also include emerging technologies and methods for forensic analysis of human DNA. More broadly, Daniel’s experience as a genome informatics practitioner and researcher spans a broad array of model systems (plants, insects, humans) and topics, including variant discovery, sequence assembly, genome annotation, data science, and software engineering.

Email: daniel.standage@st.dhs.gov

Teacher in WS 6 – Mini-symposium: An introduction to and the use of microhaplotypes in forensics

Prof. Daniele Podini received his BS/MS in Biology/Molecular Biology from the University of Parma, Italy and later completed his graduate education in Applied Genetics at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome Italy. Prof. Podini served as the Assistant Chief of the Biology Section of the Scientific Department of the Carabinieri (1998-2000), and as Technical Leader of the Molecular Diagnostic section of Genoma, a private molecular biology laboratory in Rome (2000-2004) where he also created and headed the Forensic DNA Section. Prof. Podini has been on the faculty of the Department of Forensic Sciences at The George Washington University since 2004, and Department Chair since 2019. His forensic experience includes crime scene processing, forensic DNA evidence testing and testifying in court as an expert witness. His research background is mostly in applied molecular biology, both in the forensic and in the human genetics field including developing microhaplotype assays for human identification, mixture deconvolution and biogeographical ancestry prediction, high throughput detection of sperm cells from sexual assault evidence and obtaining nuclear DNA from hair shaft.

Email: podini@gwu.edu

Teacher in WS 6 – Mini-symposium: An introduction to and the use of microhaplotypes in forensics

Duncan is the Chief scientist of forensic statistics at Forensic Science, SA. He has worked in the forensic field for over 15 years, supervising criminal casework in hundreds of cases for both prosecution and defence, and testifying in Courts around Australia. He holds PhDs in molecular biology and statistics, both obtained from Flinders University. Dr Taylor is one of the developers of STRmix™, and the neural network component of FaSTR™. He is an Associate Professor of biology and Distinguished Alumni at Flinders University, supervising honours, masters and PhD students. Duncan has over 120 peer-reviewed publications, and books on DNA evidence interpretation and activity level evaluations. In 2017 Duncan was awarded the SA Science Excellence STEM professional award and in 2018 was part of the group that won the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Science Award. In 2021 Duncan was awarded the Public Service Medal for contributions to forensic statistics.

Email: duncan.taylor@sa.gov.au

Teacher in WS 5.2: Bayesian networks and activity level reporting: Advanced

Dr. Hwan Young Lee is an associate professor at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea. She is a member of the managing committee for the DNA identification information database of Korea, and advisory committee member for scientific investigation at the National Police Agency and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. She has co-authored over 80 publications with an H-index of 24 and is on the editorial board of Forensic Science International: Genetics. Her research mainly focused on the application of DNA methylation for forensic purposes. Her group developed several SNaPshot multiplex assays for body fluid identification and age prediction using forensically relevant tissues such as semen, blood, saliva, and buccal epithelial cells. Based on this research and development, she entertains collaboration with international partners around the world. Her recent research interests include age prediction using skin, muscle and bone samples, assay development for organ typing, and identification of lifestyle-associated epigenetic signatures. With the growing need for DNA methylation analysis for investigative purposes, her group is often consigned to handle actual forensic casework samples from the police.

Email: hylee192@snu.ac.kr

Teacher in WS 3: Forensic Epigenetics: Basic concepts, methods and applications

Jerry Hoogenboom is the Bioinformatics expert in the Team Research of the Division Biological Traces at the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI). He has developed the FDSTools software package since 2015 and is responsible for the fully-automated MPS data analysis pipeline, which is used in forensic casework at the NFI since 2018. Most recently, he designed and developed the STRNaming STR sequence nomenclature.

Email: j.hoogenboom@nfi.nl

Teacher in WS 10.1 – Bioinformatics MPS: Basic

Teacher in WS 10.2 – Bioinformatics MPS: Advanced

Jonathan King is the Director of the Research and Development Unit in the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas. He has been leading development of secondary analysis tools within STRait Razor Suite since 2012. Additionally, he has been a member of the ISFG’s Scientific Working Group (STRAND) since 2019 and currently serves on the ISFG DNA Commission on STR Sequence Nomenclature.

Email: jonathan.king@unthsc.edu

Teacher in WS 10.1 – Bioinformatics MPS: Basic

Teacher in WS 10.2 – Bioinformatics MPS: Advanced

Dr. Kenneth K. Kidd is a human population geneticist who has been on the faculty of the Genetics Department at Yale University since 1973. During his career he has published extensively on his research on complex disorders, on putting together the human linkage map, on mapping of disease genes, and on the haplotype structure of many genes of interest.  Because of his expertise in DNA polymorphisms and in population genetics he has been asked to testify on forensic aspects of DNA in local, state, and federal courts.  Following his experience in the Kinship and Data Analysis Panel following the World Trade Center Attack, he turned his lab more toward use of SNPs in forensics and then initiated the idea of using haplotypes of small, sequenced regions—microhaplotypes—as a powerful type of molecular marker for forensics.

Email: kenneth.kidd@yale.edu

Teacher in WS 6 – Mini-symposium: An introduction to and the use of microhaplotypes in forensics

Lutz Roewer has done research in forensic genetics, population and human evolutionary genetics since 1987. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers spanning topics of Y chromosome STRs and SNPs, population stratification and past demographics. In particular, he helped to develop guidelines and principles for the interpretation of Y-STR matches in court cases. He is founder of the Haploid Markers Workshop series (formerly Forensic Y-User Workshop, since 1996) and the YHRD database (with Sascha Willuweit, since 1999).

Email: lutz.roewer@yhrd.org

Teacher in WS 7.2 – Y chromosome interpretation: standard Y-STRs and the use of YHRD

Lydie Samie is a forensic scientist, with a specialization in interpretation of DNA evidence. She has obtained her master degree in Forensic Science at the School of Criminal Justice (Lausanne, Switzerland) and -in 2019- her Ph.D. degree on the evaluation of DNA results considering propositions at the activity level. She is proficient in the use of Bayesian Networks, both for research and casework purposes. Since 2018, she has been working as a DNA expert at the Forensic Genetic Unit of the University Center of Legal Medicine, Lausanne – Geneva. Part of her work involves the assessment of DNA results given activity level propositions.

Email: lydie.Samie-Foucart@chuv.ch

Teacher in WS 5.2: Bayesian networks and activity level reporting: Advanced

Magnus Dehli Vigeland is a senior researcher at the Dept of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital. He specializes in statistical genetics and pedigree analysis.

Email: magnusdv@gmail.com

Teacher in WS 4.1: Pedigree analysis: Basic

Teacher in WS 4.2: Pedigree analysis: Advanced

Margreet van den Berge is postdoctoral researcher in the Research team at the division of biological traces of the Netherlands Forensic Institute. Her research mainly focusses on advancing mRNA profiling for use in forensic casework.

Email: m.van.den.berge@nfi.nl

Teacher in WS 12 – Body fluid identification with main focus on RNA

María de la Puente Vila conducted her PhD at the Forensic Genetics Unit of the Institute of Forensic Science of the University of Santiago de Compostela, focused on the applications of biogeographical ancestry inference and the implementation of new MPS methodologies in forensic genetics. During her postdoc work at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Medical University of Innsbruck, she led the development of new microhaplotype markers for kinship and ancestry analysis. Back in Santiago, her main interest is developing highly applicable tools for forensic genetics implementing the new advances on sequencing analysis.

Email: m.delapuente.vila@gmail.com

Teacher in WS 1.1: Biogeographical ancestry analyses: Basic

Teacher in WS 6: Mini-symposium: An introduction to and the use of microhaplotypes in forensics

Øyvind Bleka is a Senior Researcher at the Department of Forensic Sciences at Oslo University Hospital, where he develops statistical applications within forensic science. He has developed the software EuroForMix, CaseSolver, dnamatch2 and MPSproto used for DNA comparison. In addition, he works with developing methods for age and time prediction based on various applications within genetics, radiology, and toxicology. His background is a master’s degree in statistics and data analysis and a PhD degree in forensic statistics.

Email: oyvble@hotmail.com

Teacher in WS 8.1 – Mixture interpretation: Basic use of the software EuroForMix and DNAStatistX

Teacher in WS 8.2 – Mixture interpretation: Advanced. Using EuroForMix, DNAStatistX and accompanying software

Peter Gill is professor of forensic genetics at the Department of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital and the Department of Clinical Medicine, Oslo University, Norway. He has >40 years experience as a forensic scientist, working primarily as a researcher, but he also has substantial experience reporting cases to courts. He has led and participated in numerous interpretation workshops. He has more than 200 coauthored publications, with more than 20,000 citations in the literature. He is chair of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) DNA Commission and is recipient of the scientific prize (2013) of the ISFG.

Email: peterd.gill@gmail.com

Teacher in WS 8.1 – Mixture interpretation: Basic use of the software EuroForMix and DNAStatistX

Teacher in WS 8.2 – Mixture interpretation: Advanced. Using EuroForMix, DNAStatistX and accompanying software

As a DNA Section Manager “Forensic Genetics” at the State Criminal Investigation Office, Sascha Willuweit is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the lab, ensuring that all testing and analysis is conducted accurately and efficiently. He works closely with law enforcement agencies to provide critical evidence and analysis that can make or break a case.

Together with Lutz Roewer he is maintaining and enhancing the largest worldwide Y-STR haplotype reference database YHRD (https://yhrd.org/) for over 20 years now. Following his interests in Y-STRs, he is developing new methods and improving existing ones on the complex interpretation of Y-STR matches and mixtures.

In addition to his work in Y-STR analysis, he has also been involved in the development and implementation of new techniques for analyzing other types of forensic evidence, such as probabilistic genotyping and activity level propositions. He has worked closely with other experts in the field to develop new standards and best practices for forensic analysis, helping to ensure that the evidence presented in court is both reliable and scientifically sound.

Email: sascha.willuweit@me.com

Teacher in WS 7.2 – Y chromosome interpretation: standard Y-STRs and the use of YHRD

Sofie Claerhout was the first in Belgium to obtain a PhD in Forensic Genetics and acts as a Y-ambassador since 2015 with her CSY research at the KU Leuven. She gained new insights into human Y-chromosomal variations in the context of forensic genetic genealogy and familial searching. With her CSY research she received the ‘Best oral presentation’ prize at ISFG19, the ‘Flemish PhD cup’ in 2021 and the ‘Woman in STEM’ award in 2023. Currently, she is in close contact with Minister of Justice to implement the Y in the Belgian legislation. At the end of 2022, she wrote a book ‘Dader onbekend’ to explain CSY to the broad public for which she received the Belgian prize for science communication.

Email: sofie.claerhout@kuleuven.be

Teacher in WS 7.1 – Y-chromosome interpretation: extended/new methodologies on Y-SNPs and Y-STRs

Tacha Hicks is a forensic scientist, with a specialization in interpretation of evidence. She is - with Prof. Champod, Taroni & Biedermann - responsible for the online interpretation courses tailored for forensic caseworkers (e.g., Certificate of advanced studies in Statistics and the evaluation of forensic evidence) that are provided to forensic practitioners and lawyers by the University of Lausanne (Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice and Public Administration, School of Criminal Justice) since 2009. In addition, since 2016, she has been working as an interpretation specialist at the University Center of Legal Medicine, Lausanne – Geneva (Switzerland).  She is specialized in the interpretation of DNA traces, as well as micro-traces (glass, fibres…). Early in her career, through her PhD research on glass (at the School of Criminal Justice), she specialized in assessing forensic results given activity level propositions. She worked for three years at the former Forensic Science Service in R&D in the Physical Science department and returned to the University of Lausanne for her postdoc in the area of DNA. She is the SCJ representative at the DNA ENFSI group. She has co-authored books on the interpretation of DNA and has published numerous articles on interpretation issues.

Email: tacha.hickschampod@unil.ch

Teacher in WS 5.1: Evaluation of biological results given activity level propositions using Bayesian networks: Basic

Thore Egeland is professor of statistics at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences combined with a 20% position at Dept of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital. He specializes in forensic applications of statistical genetics.

Email: thore.egeland@gmail.com

Teacher in WS 4.1: Pedigree analysis: Basic

Teacher in WS 4.2: Pedigree analysis: Advanced

Titia Sijen leads the Research team at the division biological traces of the Netherlands Forensic Institute since 2007. The team focuses on new developments such as MPS, mRNA typing, statistical interpretation and haploid markers with focus on the application in case work.

Email: t.sijen@nfi.nl

Teacher in WS 12 – Body fluid identification with main focus on RNA

Torben Tvedebrink, PhD in statistics, has done research in statistical aspects of forensic genetics since 2006. He has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed papers spanning topics of DNA mixture modeling, allelic drop-out estimation, MPS stuttering, population genetics, and more recently, methods for ancestry informative markers. In particular, he developed the principles behind the GenoGeographer methodology and implemented the online version of the algorithm available at genogeographer.org. He has presented his research at each ISFG congress since 2007, but following the ISFG2022 conference, he has moved into industry, but remains interested in the area of ancestry prediction.

Email: torben@tvedebrink.dk

Teacher in WS 1.2: Biogeographical ancestry interpretation: Advanced

Vania Pereira has been working in the forensic field since 2006. Vania has a MSc in Forensic Genetics from the University of Porto, Portugal, and a PhD in Biology with focus on human population and forensic genetics from the same university. During her PhD studies, Vania had the opportunity to carry out her research in Denmark and Brazil. These experiences really broaden the horizons and increased her interest in human population genetics, admixture, and how these can be applied to advance forensic casework.

After her PhD in 2013, Vania moved to Denmark, where she has been working at the Section of Forensic Genetics, Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen as a Postdoc (2013-2015), Assistant Professor (2015-2019) and Associate Professor (since 2019). Her research is currently focused on ancestry inference using both autosomal and haploid markers, and age estimation using DNA methylation. Vania is involved in several projects at the Department of Forensic Medicine, and besides research, she has experience in teaching and supervising PhD students, MSc students, and trainees.

Email: vania.pereira@sund.ku.dk

Teacher in WS 1.2: Biogeographical ancestry interpretation: Advanced

Walther Parson holds an associate professorship at the Institute of Legal Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, and an adjunct professorship at the PennState University, PA, USA. He is representing Austria in international boards including the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) DNA Working Group and the European DNA Profiling Group (EDNAP) and he is an elected active member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He served as President of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) from 2015-2019 and is currently Vice-President.

His research focuses on various fields of genetics and genomics, including forensic, medical and population genetics and he entertains collaborations with other fields of research such as anthropology, archaeology, ethics, history and mathematics. With his team he developed (1999-2006) and has since been curating the EDNAP Mitochondrial DNA Population Database (EMPOP; https://empop.online), a resource for statistical purposes and a quality control tool to harmonize mtDNA alignment and nomenclature.

Email: walther.parson@i-med.ac.at

Teacher in WS 11 – MPS mtDNA: Analysis and interpretation