Forensic specialist Dr Maiken Ueland’s 2021 DECRA aims to change the way mass disasters are undertaken through the development of portable electronic nose sensor technology, giving realtime data in situations where every minute counts and where finding the dead could mean saving the living.
Norwegian born forensic chemist, Dr Maiken Ueland, spends much of her research time with decomposing bodies, or more specifically, the volatile chemical compounds associated with death. Over the past four years her research at Australia’s only body decomposition facility, AFTER (Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research) has led to the development of prototype technology capable of analysing these complex compounds with the aim of locating deceased victims of mass disasters. Now, through an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) she has the opportunity to modify the technology to make it both portable and also capable of detecting the “scent” from living victims.
Maiken Ueland
The research is timely - indications are that mass disasters are increasing due to climate change and acts of terrorism. The South East Asian and Pacific regions can be especially vulnerable and Dr Ueland says Australian rescue teams are often deployed, an added impetus for her research.
‘’I see the development of this technology as a way of protecting first responders as well” she says.
“In disaster situations first responders talk about the rule of four where the survival rate is directly related to the time of entrapment. And the rule is that an individual cannot survive four minutes without air, four days without water and four weeks without food,” she says.
Continue reading on the Centre for Forensic Science news: Portable E-nose technology will find the dead and the living