A Guest Lecture on ‘Current status of Forensic Research’ conducted by Dr. Mercedes Salado; Anthropologist and a Member of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Identification Coordinator), was held on 27th August 2018 at the Seminar Room of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Dr. Mercedes Salado is specialized in the historical investigation of cases of political violence (analysis written and oral sources, collecting ante mortem data from relatives of the missing, conducting interviews with witnesses, organization of the information), and she had been engaged in archaeological exhumation of individual and mass graves and analysis of human remains (bones) in order to identify them and to help in establishing the cause of death. Further, she has worked as an expert witness in several cases in Argentine courts and abroad. She has participated in forensic investigations and training in many different countries, to name some are Bosnia, Brundin, Brazil, Colombia, Central African Republic, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast etc. Also, she is a member of many distinguish organizations worldwide and have many important publications.
The lecture was organized by the Department of Anthropology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences under the coordination of Dr. Cladia Garrido Varas; Forensic Specialist at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Prof. Yasanjalie Jayathilake, Head of the Department of Anthropology, Prof. Charmalie Nahallage, Dr. Sepala Samarasekara, Dr. Nelum Kanthilatha, and Dr. Sanjaya Hulathduwa, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Faculty of Medical Sciences graced the event. Also, a large number of undergraduates of the Department of Anthropology as well as of the Faculty of Technology actively participated in the lecture.
