If you’ve been keeping up with this series, surely you know what I mean when I talk about environmental forensic science. If not, feel free to check out my previous publications “Arthur x TCRC: Student Preparedness for Environmental Forensic Science Careers” and “So You Think You Want an Environmental Forensic Science Career.”  For those just joining, this is my final publication for my community-based research project where I aimed to determine if Trent prepares its students for environmental forensic science careers. Environmental forensic science can be defined as the application of science to environmental law. Careers under this umbrella include conservation officer, environmental (pollution) officer, microbiology (water) analyst, and so many more.

Throughout my research project, I have been fortunate enough to speak with professionals in the field and compare their interview results to job postings for similar jobs. This gave me a good understanding of the skills, knowledge, and qualifications that employers are looking for. Recruitment officials look for candidates who demonstrate strong communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and computer skills. On top of this, they also search for candidates who understand environmental policies, environmental sampling, investigation techniques, and evidence collection methods. With such a variety of expectations from employers, are students actually prepared for this type of career when they graduate? 

To be blunt, I believe that Trent does not fully prepare students for careers in environmental forensic science. The forensic department and school of the environment do provide courses in which students can learn some of the required skills or knowledge for this type of career. However, there is a large disconnect between the two departments with few cross-listed courses, making it difficult for students to be fully prepared upon graduation.

Last month, an anonymous survey was made available for upper-year students in environmental and forensic courses. I was fortunate to receive over sixty responses! The results of this survey are consistent with my hypothesis that there are gaps in preparedness that need to be addressed. When reviewing the results of the hard and soft skill preparedness, I was pleasantly surprised. 77% of students felt confident in their soft skills and 83% of students’ hard skills were well-prepared. Some of the skills listed under soft skills included communication, independent work, teamwork, organization, and attention to detail. Hard skills included general laboratory practices, computer skills, statistical analyses, and data interpretation. 

Although I was pleased to know that students felt their hard and soft skills had been refined while at Trent, specialized knowledge was also a component of this survey. This included investigative processes, evidence collection techniques, investigative report writing, legal proceedings, species identifications, environmental surveying, sample comparisons, and environmental legislation. Over 40% of students were not confident or felt unsure that they would be able to demonstrate specialized knowledge in a job setting. When given the opportunity to elaborate, many students stated that they were confident in some of the specialized knowledge, but not all. This gap is likely due to the disconnect between forensic and environmental disciplines at Trent.

One of the final questions in the survey was ‘Would you say that you feel prepared for a career in the environmental forensic science field? (0 being very unprepared, 100 being very prepared).’ The students' results ranged anywhere from 0-80. Although a wide range, the average preparedness that students felt was 42%, meaning that the majority of students felt less than half prepared for this type of career. This makes it obvious that current and future students who choose to study at Trent University may struggle with a career or future being an environmental forensics scientist without proper preparation and planning.

Students can better prepare themselves by doing a number of things at Trent University. Preparedness begins with selecting a degree that is right for you. This could be ecological restoration, conservation biology, forensic science, or even a joint major with environment and resource science and forensics. This choice is not only important when high-school students apply to universities, but also while attending university as many students switch majors throughout their undergraduate degree. After a student has picked the degree that is right for them, they should initially seek help from Academic Advising. These advisors will ask about a student's goals and courses that may interest them in the future. From these ideas, students are able to work backward and plan to take required courses, allowing them to choose electives in their final years. Some courses that students found prepared them for this type of career that are currently offered at Trent include: FRSC 3111: Wildlife DNA Forensics, ERST-FRSC 3250H: Introduction to Environmental Law, BIOL-FRSC 4570: Biocrime and Bioterrorism, ERST-GEOG 4140H: Climate and Energy Policy, ERST-FRSC 4250H: Environmental Law and Regulation, BIOL-FRSC 4510: Species at Risk Biology and Policy, and FRSC 4312H: Presentation of Forensic Evidence.

If courses such as those listed above exist, why do students generally feel less than half prepared for this type of career? The answer is simple, there is a significant disconnect between the school of the environment and forensic science. This is shown by the barriers to interdisciplinary studies where transferable skills from one department to the next exist. An example of this can be seen when looking at the prerequisites for biocrime and bioterrorism where students are required to have forensic science prerequisites. As someone who has taken the class myself, I believe that there are many transferable skills that a student studying in the school of environment would possess that would allow them to be successful in this course. By reducing pre-requisite courses or providing students with opportunities to utilize transferable skills, I believe that students would generally feel more prepared for environmental forensic careers. Trent could also introduce new cross-listed courses between these two disciplines. Some ideas of classes not currently available that I think would benefit students include environmental forensics, environmental investigations, and wildlife poaching forensics. These potential cross-listings between the forensic department and school of the environment would give students more opportunities to explore interdisciplinary studies at Trent University.