Where to from here

A review article last year by Ross et al. (2025) examined the themes of the 2023 International Association of Forensic Sciences conference in Sydney, themed as a 'Where to from Here’ (WTFH) conference, specifically convened to address some significant challenges in the field of forensic science. The conference speakers, panels and attendees collectively hammered out the "Sydney Declaration": a set of principles and definitions for data integration, analysis, and use of AI; raising the issues of reducing funding; and detailing the gap between forensic science and the law (Ross et al., 2025).

"And what has any of this got to do with us?", I hear you ask.

Well, I think what was outlined in the article could easily be called the 'Where to from Here’ (WTFH) model, and could well be applicable to a range of professional fields which are publicly funded, and are experiencing disruption, high staff turnover and burnout, alongside increasing external scrutiny.

A rough idea of how I think the WTFH model could work, generically, is as follows:

1. Having a vision (and values): firstly, our fields need a core philosophy to ground members: a set of central tenets to orient everyone to. A WTFH vision must be hammered out as a shared set of fundamental principles defining core identity and values. Like all visions, it is something that is not quite with us yet, but is what we aim to achieve - it is concept-focused, shared understanding, silo-transcending, and big-picture; not operational, detail-focused, isolated, and nit-picky.
   
   
2. Being collaborative: a WTFH strategy has to be driven by those in the field, taking the temperature of all practitioners who do the work - examining diverse viewpoints for broad trends, shifting views, problems, and systemic improvements; from expert panels to grassroots; issues being debated, decided, and "generally accepted"; then being adopted widely from within. A top-down management imposed strategy won't work - many managers may lack the practitioner understanding to 'see' the finely nuanced practices essential for delivering good service (Ross et al., 2025).
   
   
3. Responding to critique: this is key for debate, as being defensive can lead to entrenched positions, in turn sparking destructive negativity which corrodes trust and confidence. A WTFH approach instead responds to criticism with both internal and external stakeholders in a focused, constructive, and forward-thinking way, being more transparent about mistakes, questions and challenges to effectiveness or results. This can take the heat out of scrutiny, and avoid a pile-on (Ross et al., 2025).
   


4. Six sub-themes: a WTFH model evaluates readiness and opportunities via the following themes:
1. Integration and harmonisation: creating "inter-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary", collaborative teams rather than isolated operational departments. Practicing coordinated "triage or whole of case coordination" when projects begin, using "plug-and-play" protocols - such as "the Interpol Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) guidelines" - facilitating relatively frictionless teamwork (Ross et al., 2025, p. 2).
2. Digital technologies: when using technology to manage data we must remember "the five Vs[:] velocity, volume, value, variety, and veracity" (p. 3), and keep our critical hat on. None of us are immune to flubs - MoE under-forecasting 1250 teaching staff (Gerritsen, 2025); the Green Party over-forecasting $800m of tax take (Dexter & Lee, 2026) - so relying on our professional judgment, not blindly automating or out-sourcing to AI, is essential. As professionals, we must understand technology's limitations, and systemically check the five Vs. Yes, we should be open to new technologies and systems, but with proof of trust through verifying, validating and double-checks: as technology "do[es] not replace the need for rigorous statistics, data analysis, probabilistic reasoning and skilled practitioners" (Ross et al., 2025, p. 4).
3. Research: funding is ridiculously tight, so successful grants may overly focus on seeking out newsworthy novel methods and trialling new technologies. Redirecting the "frantic chase" for funding toward more long-term, real-world, practice challenges would benefit not only forensics (Ross et al., 2025, p. 5) but most professions. However, this means that research, education and practice needs strong and collaborative networks, not a competitive funding environment. After all, "we become what we measure" (Philipsen, 2015, p. 1).
4. Education and training: our education and training must focus on those professional core principles, as opposed to individual lecturer interests. Education programmes need graduate outcomes which mesh with those industry principles and values so those coming into the profession have realistic expectations, understand what can and can't [yet] be done, have a feeling for the global industry landscape, and be exposed to areas surrounding the field (inter- and intra-disciplinarity again). While Ross et al. provided examples of "odontology, law and ethics" (2025, p. 6), in career development this might equate to economics, psychology and policy.
5. Culture and professionalisation: building a professional culture focused on "quality[, ...] continuous improvement, innovation, and identifying diverse ways" of work and thought; and avoiding a "blame culture" (Ross et al., 2025, p. 7). Systems must be established to provide a "counter-narrative" when in crisis or a pile-on, as in-field leadership may be MIA, hit and miss, or simply lack a unified voice. This may also aid a "psychologically safe environment that promotes innovation and attracts and retains promising" young professionals in our professions (p. 7). But as part of that culture, encompassing wider social, ethical and global aspects of our field is important: including human rights, equality, diversity, and policy (Ross et al., 2025).
6. Practice, skills and competencies: Focusing work on rigorous, analytic, and scientific endeavour, using evidence and reason to reduce uncertainty: and keeping rote, administrative transactions to a minimum (where possible, not using admin as success measures, as again, "we become what we measure", Philipsen, 2015, p. 1). Key too is a voiding standard testing for entry, instead using core cognitive competencies (such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and professional ethics) to monitor and assess performance (this mahi has been done in career development in Aotearoa by CDANZ, 2019).
   
   
5. Cultural embedding: a WTFH approach permeates the professional community: as new members are educated, trained and begin practice, they understand - as a new practitioner - that having core tenets, transparency, discussion, and diversity is "how we do things around here" (Deal & Kennedy, 1982, p. 4). They understand that enduring system change comes from within the field; it is not imposed from without. We know that holding the core intact is far more important than chasing the golden dollar (Ross et al., 2025): that doing the work is more desirable than being all hui and little do-ey, allowing no time-budget for evaluation and double-checking, while writing administrative reports to say what we spend money on instead.

I think that the principles and practices suggested by Ross et al. (2025) of WTFH may be very useful.

Sam

References:

CDANZ. (2019). Career Development Association of New Zealand Competency Framework. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tudpuDOP8vc9tG5cE_HjSn2DiRp7xBTM/view

Deal, T. E. & Kennedy, A. A. (1982). Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. Penguin Books.

Dexter, G., & Lee, I. (2026, June 22). Greens change tax policy costings after mistake put it out by $800m. RNZ. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/615085/greens-change-tax-policy-costings-after-mistake-put-it-out-by-800m

Gerritsen, J. (2025, February 1). Schools could be short 1250 teachers this year, Ministry of Education warns. The Post. https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360589408/schools-could-be-short-1250-teachers-year-ministry-education-warns

Philipsen, D. (2015). The Little Big Number: How GDP came to rule the world and what to do about it. Princeton University Press.

Ross, A., Lennard, C., & Roux, C. (2025). Forensic science: Where to from Here?. Forensic Science International, 366, 112285, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112285

* GeminiLM was used to create the image accompanying this post