I try and publish as much as I can about the work I do – it gets the science out there so it can be built on by others which is hugely important for pushing research forward. Sometimes I may not have enough experience or data in a specific field myself to be able to pull together an entire publication, however I do get asked to help with work in a wide range of research fields especially with regards to imaging.

One area which has strong links with skin and imaging is that of forensics, and UV photography has applications in that field. Due to my work on the measurement of lens transmission in the UV, Dr Kevin Farrugia, at De Montfort University, approached me in 2020 with some questions about UV imaging, which led to some interesting and thought provoking discussions about what was actually important when doing UV imaging.

Dr Farrugia recently published an article on UV imaging of fingerprints, and looking at how the choice of equipment can influence the results. The article “A pseudo-operational trial: An investigation into the use of longwave reflected UV imaging of cyanoacrylate developed fingermarks” was recently published in Forensic Science International.

Always nice to get a mention in the acknowledgements on a paper (you’d be shocked to find out how often this doesn’t happen after these types of discussions), so thanks Kevin. Part of having expertise in an area is the responsibility to teach others and pass on that knowledge, especially to Universities, and it is something I will continue to do in the future.