Forensic Science with Professional Placement

Reasons to choose Kingston
- This course is accredited by the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS) and will undergo renewal in 2025.

- Kingston is ranked top in London for Forensic Science by the Complete University Guide 2025, and the New Scientist Careers Guide 2024.

- Kingston is ranked in the top 10 in the country for Forensic Science (Guardian University Guide 2025).

- We’ve received four commendations from the CSFS for our cutting-edge forensic technology and the innovative student training programmes.

- Our commitment to high quality teaching has been recognised with a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold rating. The University has received an overall rating of Gold, as well as securing a Gold award in the framework's two new student experience and student outcomes categories.

About this course
This course prepares you for a career as a forensic scientist. Case studies, evidence interpretation, fieldwork and laboratory training cover all aspects of investigating a criminal offence. These include crime scene processing, forensic archaeology, drugs, toxicology, DNA profiling, body fluids, entomology, fibres, fire investigation and ballistics. You’ll also have an introduction to criminal law, which includes cross-examination in a Crown Court setting.

Specialist topics include blood pattern analysis (BPA), gunshot residue detection, counterfeits and forgeries, and the analysis of trace evidence. When you graduate you’ll be eligible to apply to be an Associate of the CSFS. In addition, this course also provides additional industry recognised certificates in BPA, forensic toxicology and DNA profiling at no extra cost.

You can choose to take a four-year sandwich degree, with a year's overseas study or an industrial placement to give you a career head start.

We have recently updated our modules to enhance student-centred teaching and align course content with industry needs.

Future Skills
Embedded within every course curriculum and throughout the whole Kingston experience, Future Skills will play a role in shaping you to become a future-proof graduate, providing you with the skills most valued by employers such as problem-solving, digital competency, and adaptability.

As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills, learning to demonstrate and articulate to employers how future skills give you the edge.

At Kingston University, we're not just keeping up with change, we're creating it.

Career opportunities
You’ll be prepared to work in a range of environments, including forensic laboratories, policing, analytical chemistry laboratories, hospitals and private consultancies.