Background
Dr Beckett is a Lecturer in Forensic and Archaeological Biominerals within Cranfield Forensic Institute (CFI).
Sophie graduated with a degree in chemistry from Durham University and is a Chartered Chemist. She gained an MSc in Forensic Archaeological Science from University College London before joining Cranfield University in 2005, to undertake her PhD studies (Interspecies Variation in Bone Mineral).
Dr Beckett has taught on CFI's MSc Forensic Programme since 2006 and, as
Lecturer, has been a module leader for several different modules (Further
Forensic Anthropology: Identification, Mass Fatality Incidents, Courtroom
Skills).
Between 2008 and 2013, Sophie managed Cranfield Forensic Institute's X-ray diffraction (XRD) laboratories and XRD commercial services. Between 2011 and 2014, Sophie set-up and managed CFI's Forensic Analytical Laboratories at the Shrivenham campus. This included establishing CFI's commercial services for computed tomography (CT).
Sophie
is a team member for Kenyon International Emergency Services Inc. with whom she
has worked in Thailand, in February and June 2005, and in the UK, in January
2008 and May 2010.
Dr Beckett currently works part-time for Cranfield Forensic Institute and since 2019 has provided freelance osteology and analytical consultancy service for heritage community groups and charities. This has included delivering osteology services for a grant awarded to the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP)* by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, delivering a National Archives Testbed fund project** also with SHARP and, gaining a grant to run osteology training for volunteers with the archaeology society; Gloucestershire Archaeology (GlosArch).
*Volunteering
with a Disarticulated Community: Towards Re-association of Anglo-Saxon Bones
**SHARP Digital Photographic Archive Project
Current activities
Within Cranfield Forensic Institute, Dr Beckett is part of the Musculoskeletal and Medicolegal Research Group. She is also an Honorary Fellow of Melbourne Dental School (the University of Melbourne).
Sophie's research interests include:
Dr Beckett welcomes enquiries regarding research collaborations as well as PhD and MRes studies.
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Gretzinger J, Sayer D & Justeau P et al (2022) The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the Early English gene pool, Nature, 610 (7930) 112-119.
- Dicken L, Knock C, Carr DJ & Beckett S (2022) The effect of the digital printing of fabric on the morphology of passive bloodstains, Forensic Science International, 341 (December) Article No. 111515.
- Dicken L, Knock C, Carr D & Beckett S (2022) The effect of reactive dyeing of fabric on the morphology of passive bloodstains, Forensic Science International, 336 (July) Article No. 111317.
- Kocher A, Papac L, Barquera R, Key FM, Spyrou MA, Hubler R, Rohrlach AB, Aron F, Stahl R, Wissgott A, van Bommel F & Pfefferkorn M ... et al. (2021) Ten millennia of hepatitis B virus evolution, Science, 374 (6564) 182-188.
- Dicken L, Knock C, Beckett S & Carr DJ (2019) The effect of fabric mass per unit area and blood impact velocity on bloodstain morphology, Forensic Science International, 301 (August) 12-27.
- Carew RM ,Viner MD, Conlogue G, Márquez-Grant N & Beckett S (2019) Accuracy of computed radiography in osteometry: a comparison of digital imaging techniques and the effect of magnification, Journal of Forensic Radiology and Imaging, 19 (December) Article No. 100348.
- Dicken L, Knock C, Carr DJ & Beckett S (2019) Investigating bloodstain dynamics at impact on the technical rear of fabric, Forensic Science International, 301 (August) 142-148.
- Johnson V, Beckett S & Marquez-Grant N (2017) Differentiating human versus non-human bone by exploring the nutrient foramen: implications for forensic anthropology, International Journal of Legal Medicine, 131 (6) 1757-1763.
- Dicken L, Knock C, Beckett S, de Castro TC, Nickson T & Carr DJ (2015) The use of micro computed tomography to ascertain the morphology of bloodstains on fabric, Forensic Science International, 257 (December) 369-375.
- Breeze J, Carr DJ, Mabbott A, Beckett S & Clasper JC (2015) Refrigeration and freezing of porcine tissue does not affect the retardation of fragment simulating projectiles, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 32 (May) 77-83.
- Greenwood C, Rogers K, Beckett S & Clement J (2013) Initial observations of dynamically heated bone, Crystal Research and Technology, 48 (12) 1073-1082.
- Greenwood C, Rogers K, Beckett S & Clement J (2012) Bone mineral crystallisation kinetics., Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, 23 (9) 2055-2060.
- Rogers K D, Jones B, Roberts L, Rich M, Montalto N & Beckett S (2011) Composition of uroliths in small domestic animals in the United Kingdom, Veterinary Journal, 188 (2) 228-230.
- Beckett S, Rogers KD & Clement JG (2011) Inter-species variation in bone mineral behavior upon heating, Journal of Forensic Sciences, 56 (3) 571-579.
- Rendle DF, Rogers KD & Beckett S (2011) Ambient-temperature powder diffraction data for benzocaine hydrochloride and a monoclinic polymorph of benzocaine base, Powder Diffraction, 26 (3) 277-279.
- Rogers K, Beckett S, Kuhn S, Chamberlain A & Clement J (2010) Contrasting the crystallinity indicators of heated and diagenetically altered bone mineral, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 296 (1-2) 125-129.
- Beckett S, Hatton M & Rogers K (2008) The discovery and analysis of a urinary calculus from an Anglo-Saxon burial in Sedgeford, Norfolk, Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP), XLV 379-409.
Conference Papers
- Vachirawongsakorn V, Marquez-Grant N, Painter J, Beckett S & Greenwood C (2018) Taphonomic processes of chop marks in terrestrial and buried environments: A micro-CT and stereo-microscopic study [poster]. In: Taphos-Nomos 2018, School of Forensic and Applied Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, 2-4 November 2018.
Books
- Beckett S (2012) 7. Other scientific methods related to victim identification. In: Forensic ecology handbook: from crime scene to court. Marquez-Grant N, Roberts J, (ed.), Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, ed. 1.
