Barbara Larkin - Forensics

I arrived from Western Australia several years ago to take up my current position as a teacher in forensics at CIT.

I am a qualified cytotechnologist and prior to my teaching career spent 20 years working in various pathology laboratories. I have successfully completed a Master of Forensic Science (University of Western Australia, 2007), a Postgraduate Diploma in Biomedical Science (Curtin University, 2000) and a Bachelor of Science (University of Western Australia, 1988).

My 15 years in adult education includes teaching at diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate level. For the past four years I have taught units in the Bachelor of Forensic Science (Crime Scene Examination), the Diploma of Public Safety, the Diploma of Laboratory Technology and the Postgraduate Diploma in Forensic Science. In addition to my teaching role, I coordinate the Bachelor of Forensic Science (Crime Scene Examination). I am fortunate in that my job allows me to pursue my passion in adult forensic education.

I am passionate about keeping up my academic studies, and am currently studying part-time towards a PhD at UWA researching tertiary forensic science education. My research topic is ‘A Comparison of delivery modes in tertiary forensic science'. This involves exploring best practice delivery methods within Australian universities and sharing my findings with forensic science educators.

I think it's important to give our students a robust theoretical basis, but also the hands-on experience they will need for a job in forensics. With a solid understanding and knowledge of theoretical and practical components, our forensics graduates at CIT have become Scene of Crime Officers, forensic field scientists and crime scene investigators, as well as a range of other general roles in the scientific field.