Johanna Nedele, Forensic Scientist and PhD student at the University Hospital in Münster
In 2009 I started the master’s programme Forensic Science. Before that I finished my bachelor’s in Molecular Life Science at Maastricht University. At the end of my bachelor, I decided to follow a more multidisciplinary master’s programme. The master Forensic Science combines the possibility to follow biomedical courses, to gain knowledge in forensic research and to obtain insights in fields such as policy, ethics, media and criminal justice.
What I like most about forensics is that every case is unique and there is a close collaboration between scientist, police and justice. So, the master Forensic Science gave me the opportunity to broaden my scientific knowledge, learn more about forensics and at the same time I could follow a research master programme.
A highlight of the master´s program was the research project which I did at the Institute of Legal Medicine at the University of Münster. I developed a multiplex PCR for the identification of Cannabis traces. During the master’s programme I found out that for a forensic scientist it is important to have a PhD, especially when a case comes to court. So at the moment I am a PhD student at the Institute of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital Münster. Afterwards I would like to go back to forensics, maybe as an expert at a Federal Institute, the University or as a consultant at the police.