For most of her working life, Professor Lorna Dawson has paid close attention to what others overlook.
Soil — the ordinary earth beneath our feet — has been her focus for decades. It gathers unnoticed on shoes, coats, tyres and tools. It is walked through, brushed aside and rarely given a second thought. Yet, in the hands of Professor Dawson, soil has become a means of uncovering truth, resolving disputes and, in some of the most serious cases, helping to deliver justice.
When news came that she was to be awarded a damehood, her response was characteristically understated.
“I’m very humbled by it,” she said, reflecting on an honour that recognises not only scientific achievement, but a lifetime spent working carefully, methodically and often quietly behind the scenes.
Professor Dawson is head of the Centre for Forensic Soil Science at the James Hutton Institute, where she has helped establish soil analysis as a credible and influential branch of forensic science. Her work has been used in criminal investigations in the UK and internationally, supporting police inquiries and court proceedings where conventional evidence has been limited or absent. It is a career built not on spectacle, but on precision.
Turning soil into evidence
For many years, soil was treated as incidental in criminal investigations. Unlike fingerprints or DNA, it was thought to be too common and too variable to carry evidential weight. Professor Dawson was among the first scientists to challenge that assumption. With the right techniques, she demonstrated, soil can be remarkably distinctive. Its structure, mineral content, chemistry and biological components vary from place to place. Even within a small geographical area, those differences can be measured and compared.
By analysing tiny samples — sometimes no more than a trace embedded in fabric or lodged in footwear — it is possible to assess whether soil found on an object is consistent with soil from a particular location. That consistency, when combined with other evidence, can be powerful.
At the James Hutton Institute, an internationally respected research organisation, Professor Dawson helped develop forensic soil science into a recognised discipline. The centre she now leads was the first of its kind, bringing together expertise from soil science, chemistry, biology and forensic practice.
The work requires patience and restraint. Conclusions must be carefully framed, limitations clearly explained. In forensic science, certainty is rare, and Professor Dawson has been consistent in emphasising that soil evidence must be interpreted responsibly.
From the field to the courtroom
Much of Professor Dawson’s casework remains confidential, as is common in forensic science. However, her contribution has been widely acknowledged within policing and legal circles, particularly in Scotland.
Soil analysis has been used to support investigations into serious crimes, including unresolved cases where fresh examination of preserved samples has provided new insights years after an offence occurred. In some instances, soil evidence has helped confirm movements, link suspects to locations, or rule out lines of inquiry.
Her role as an expert witness has been marked by clarity rather than drama. In court, she is known for explaining complex scientific findings in accessible terms, without exaggeration. That measured approach has helped build confidence in a form of evidence that was once regarded with scepticism.
Importantly, soil evidence has also been used to exclude individuals who might otherwise have remained under suspicion — an aspect of forensic science that receives less attention, but is no less significant.
Beyond criminal cases, Professor Dawson’s expertise has been applied to environmental investigations, including illegal waste disposal, land contamination and wildlife crime. The same principles that link soil to place can be used to establish responsibility and accountability in a wide range of legal contexts.
An international voice
Although her work is rooted in Scotland, Professor Dawson’s influence extends far beyond it. She has advised forensic scientists, police forces and institutions across Europe and further afield, helping to shape international standards in forensic soil analysis.Training has been a central part of that effort. By working with investigators at the point where evidence is collected, she has helped ensure that soil samples are properly recognised, preserved and handled — a crucial factor in whether they can later be used reliably. She has also been involved in developing ethical guidelines for forensic environmental science, stressing independence, transparency and scientific rigour. At a time when forensic evidence has come under increased scrutiny in courts, those principles have taken on added importance.
Colleagues describe her as a thoughtful and generous mentor, committed to developing the next generation of scientists rather than guarding her own expertise. Many researchers trained under her guidance now work in forensic laboratories, universities and investigative agencies around the world.
A low-profile leader
Despite the significance of her work, Professor Dawson has never sought the limelight. Those who work with her often remark on her modesty and her tendency to deflect praise towards her team. That reflects the nature of the discipline itself. Forensic soil science is collaborative by necessity, relying on cooperation between scientists, police officers, lawyers and regulators. Progress depends on shared standards and mutual trust.
As head of the Centre for Forensic Soil Science, Professor Dawson has overseen that collaboration with a steady hand. Her leadership style is widely regarded as calm, principled and pragmatic — well suited to a field where the consequences of error can be severe.
Recognition at the highest level
The award of a damehood places Professor Dawson among a small number of scientists whose work has been recognised with one of the UK’s highest honours. It is also a reflection of the growing recognition of forensic science as a cornerstone of modern justice.
While DNA evidence has transformed criminal investigation, Professor Dawson’s career serves as a reminder that other forms of evidence — when developed and applied properly — can be equally valuable. Soil, in particular, has a persistence that few other materials share. It can survive washing, exposure and the passage of time. Long after other traces have disappeared, it may still hold information about where a person or object has been. That quality has made it especially important in cold cases, where advances in scientific understanding can shed new light on old evidence.
Professor Lorna Dawson’s role in the 2014 conviction of Angus Sinclair was rooted in a small but significant detail recorded decades earlier, at the time of the original investigation in 1977.When the body of Helen Scott was discovered, investigators noted the presence of soil on the soles of her bare feet. At the time, this observation carried limited forensic weight. Soil was documented, but the science required to analyse it meaningfully did not yet exist. Like many details in long-running cases, it remained dormant for years, kept in an air tight box waiting for advances in techniques to mature..
By the time Sinclair was brought to trial at the High Court in Livingston almost 40 years later, that same detail became critically important. Professor Dawson,, was asked to examine soil evidence linked to the case. Her work focused on understanding whether the soil associated with Helen Scott’s feet was consistent with specific locations connected to the events surrounding her death.
Rather than treating soil as a uniform substance, Professor Dawson analysed its composition in depth, looking at mineral content, structure and environmental indicators. Soils vary markedly from place to place, even across relatively small distances, and her research over many years had shown that these differences can be measured and compared with care. Her analysis demonstrated that the soil found on Helen Scott’s feet was consistent with soil from locations central to the prosecution case. This supported the conclusion that she had been present in particular environments linked to Sinclair, rather than being moved from elsewhere after death.
In a historic case where DNA evidence was limited and witness memories inevitably faded, this finding helped to strengthen the overall narrative presented to the court. It provided independent scientific support for other strands of circumstantial evidence and reduced the scope for alternative explanations. Equally important was the way in which Professor Dawson presented her conclusions. She was careful to explain the limits of soil evidence, making clear that it could not identify an individual on its own. Instead, she set out how the findings should be weighed alongside other evidence, allowing the court to assess its significance properly.
The conviction of Angus Sinclair brought long-awaited justice in a case that had remained unresolved for decades. It also highlighted the value of forensic soil science, demonstrating how observations made at the time of a crime, even if not fully understood then, can later become decisive when examined with the benefit of scientific advancement and expert interpretation.
Still looking forward
For Professor Dawson, the honour marks a moment of reflection rather than a conclusion. Scientific techniques continue to evolve, opening up new possibilities in soil analysis, from advanced microscopy to biological profiling.
Environmental change also presents fresh challenges. As landscapes are altered by development and climate pressures, understanding how soils change over time becomes increasingly important — not just for forensic purposes, but for environmental protection more broadly.
Her work sits at that intersection, linking the pursuit of justice with a deeper understanding of the natural world.
Asked what the damehood means to her, she has spoken not of personal achievement, but of the value of science in serving society. It is a fitting response from someone whose career has been dedicated to listening carefully to the ground beneath us — and ensuring that, when necessary, it can speak in the courtroom.
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