Roos Hopman PhD Candidate - University of Amsterdam |
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02.08.2019-30.09.2019
Facing the unknown suspect: An inquiry into ‘the face’ generated through Forensic DNA Phenotyping
I started my PhD trajectory in January of 2017, where I spent the first few months writing an extensive paper to prepare my project and familiarize myself with the relevant literature. I also attended a conference on forensic genetics in Croatia and worked on an article to be published with my supervisor.
Currently I am at the outset of fieldwork, which I will start next week. For the coming three months I will be conducting ethnographic fieldwork in a genetic laboratory in the Netherlands, where they specialize in forensic DNA phenotyping. Here I will learn about the practicalities surrounding the technology and talk to the researchers themselves by becoming an intern at the laboratory.
After this period of fieldwork I will set out to analyze my data and start working on writing articles. My final dissertation will be based on four articles, of which I want to write the third one during my potential stay at the Brocher foundation. This article will focus on the face generated through FDP as an infrastructure. The face as infrastructure enables genealogies of knowledge to travel from then and there, making them present in the here and now.
Because I am the only one in my department working on genetic technologies, I expect that a stay at your foundation would be very helpful and stimulating for writing my article. I would love to engage with researchers working on topics affiliated to mine. I expect that entering into a conversation with them and sharing my own experiences would help me develop theoretical ideas and think through my topic in a peaceful and focused environment.