Sheila Willis
Sheila M. Willis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 June 1952 |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
| Known for | Director General of Forensic Science, Ireland |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Forensic Science Ireland |
| Thesis | (1977) |
| Doctoral advisors | Anthony Manning |
Sheila Willis (born 11 June 1952) is an Irish forensic scientist and was director general of Forensic Science Ireland from 2002 to 2016.
Early life and education
[edit]Sheila M. Willis was as an undergraduate at University College Dublin and subsequently carried out postgraduate research supervised by Anthony Manning for the award of PhD in 1977.[1]
Career
[edit]Her first employment was as a chemist at Clondalkin Paper Mills. She was subsequently employed in as a civil servant in the Irish forensic science laboratory and promoted, reaching the position of laboratory director. She was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland from 2002 to 2016.[2] She developed the analytical facilities as well as recruiting a multidisciplinary team. This included DNA profiling analysis and initiating a national Irish DNA database in 2015[2] as the technology developed.[3] Her final achievement before retiring was overseeing the foundation of a new purpose-built Forensic Science Laboratory building near Celbridge, Co Kildare.[1][2]
Willis has been chair of the Association of Forensic Science Providers and has advised the UK and Irish governments.[1] Standards and ethics for reporting forensic data and she chaired the group that produced the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes guidelines for evaluative reporting.[4]
She is an honorary professor at the University of Dundee and member of the advisory board for the university's Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science.[5]
In 2024 she was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific, interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili.[6]
Awards and honours
[edit]Willis was the recipient of the Boyle Higgins gold medal and lecture award from the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland in 2013.[7] She received the UCD Alumni Award in Science in 2017.[8] In 2019 Willis was awarded an honorary DSc by University College, Dublin.[1] Willis was president of The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences from 2020 until 2022.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "University College Dublin honorary conferring". UCD President's Office Oifig an Uachtaráin UCD. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Former Director General of Forensic Science Ireland". 18 September 2022.
- ^ O'Keeffe, Cormac (18 May 2017). "DNA database". Irish Examiner.
- ^ "NI RSC Talk - A life of Crime by Prof Sheila Willis". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ "Dr Sheila Willis". University of Dundee. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
- ^ "Using science to help solve crime".
- ^ "Institute Awards". Institute of Chemistry of Ireland. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ "UCD Alumni Awardee".
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