Dr Alastair Ruffell
Reader, School of Natural and Built Environment (Geography)
School of Natural and Built Environment (NBE)
Main area: forensic science, especially the search for human remains in water or buried on land; secondary interest is the appearance of dinosaurs at a time of climate change, 224 million years ago.
Forensic science focus is on uses of Earth Science techniques in assisting investigations for criminal justice (Geoforensics or Forensic Geology). This may be advanced geographical/geophysical methods used in the search for sunken or buried items, or the use of trace evidence from suspects and crime scenes.
Fields
Archaeology Environment Human Geography Natural and Built EnvironmentAreas of Expertise
Geology, geophysics, forensic science, climate change in deep time, location & forensic recovery of human remains
Media Experience
Extensive media experience including expert commentary, radio and TV interviews, explainer articles (eg. The Conversation UK) and background briefings for journalists and documentary-film makers.
Notable coverage
Discovery of the Iron Age Bog Body at Bellaghy, Co Derry, 2024 - media coverage report, courtesy of PSNI:
Sample media item from above - expert commentary for New York Times news feature:
Video
Associated Research Centres / Projects
Quadrat NERC Doctoral Training Programme NERC – QUADRAT
AHRC/EPSRC Impact Acceleration account - ‘Memorialisation’ (EPSRC impact acceleration accounts – UKRI)
