Name of Event:
IPENZ Forensic Engineering - Christchurch

Description:

FORENSIC ENGINEERING

An introduction to the practice of forensic engineering and use of forensic engineers

Forensic engineering is about the presentation of complex technical issues to courts and tribunals. It is also about the analysis of incidents and failures, and through the application of knowledge, experience, and sound analytical procedures determining the most likely cause of failure. Forensic engineering requires rigor and discipline in the approach to the problem and great depth of understanding in the presentation of the results. It is not just about the analysis of major disasters; it also involves the analysis of persistent failures, advice to the insurance industry, and presentation of complex technical analysis and forums such as mediations and compliance authority hearings.

Learning Outcomes

Those attending the course will learn from a combination of practical case studies and presentations on techniques and procedures the essence of the practice of forensic engineering. The objective of the course is to provide participants with an understanding of:
• how to work as a forensic engineer or with a forensic engineer
• type of investigations that involve forensic engineering
• the process of investigation: tools and techniques used in an investigation
• working out causes
• the presentation of forensic engineering results
• some basic issues relating to evidence
• working in a court or tribunal environment

Participants will hear about forensic engineering from two distinct viewpoints, that of the technical expert investigator, and that of a widely experienced expert witness. The course will be particularly valuable to engineers and other professionals who find they are involved or about to become involved in court and tribunal hearings, professionals who have an interest in working in failure investigation and incident analysis, professionals who need to use technical experts to assist in the investigation of and reporting on incidents and failures and professionals who need to use technical experts in a forensic environment.

This course aligns with elements 2, 3 and 9 of the Competence Standard for professional engineers, engineering technologists and technicians.

Facilitators Stephen Jenkins and Milo Kral

Stephen Jenkins, FIPENZ
Stephen is a Fellow of IPENZ with over 30 years experience in incident and failure investigation and presentation in various courts and tribunals as an expert witness. He has worked with insurance companies, police, lawyers, compliance authorities, companies and individuals in investigation and presentation of evidence about a wide variety of incidents and failures. He has participated in all forms of dispute resolution as a technical expert and has presented expert evidence to the environment court and planning tribunals. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and an International Affiliate of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers in the United States.

Milo Kral
Milo received his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in Nashville TN (1984) and then worked at the Rochester Products Division of General Motors in Rochester NY for the following 6 years. He returned to Vanderbilt in 1990 and earned his M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1996) in Materials Science and Engineering. Dr Kral subsequently worked for two years in the Physical Metallurgy Division at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. Thereafter, he was appointed to the faculty of engineering at University of Canterbury, Christchurch New Zealand, where has spent the past 10 years and currently holds the rank of Associate Professor and is Head of Mechanical Engineering. His primary research interests are in the area of structure-property-processing relationships in structural metals with an emphasis on failure analysis and characterization techniques, particularly analytical transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Dr. Kral has over 50 refereed journal publications, conference articles and books chapters, including a Chapter in the Volume 9 of the Metals Handbook

To register for this course please click on the above link.

Contact: