Niamh Nic Daéid is an Irish forensic scientist. She is Professor of Forensic Science and Director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

. In 2014, Nic Daéid was appointed as Professor of Forensic Science at the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, having been an academic at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

for 20 years, where she was the first woman to earn a personal chair in the Department of Chemistry.

Early life and education

Niamh Nic Daéid was born in 1967 in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, Scotland and grew up in Ireland. Her parents were scientists involved in the investigation of fires, and she and her brother earned pocket money as children sticking their parents' fire scene photographs into scientific reports. She earned a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from the

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological University Dublin, as TU Dublin City Campus. The insti ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, followed by a PhD in bio inorganic chemistry from the

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a not-for-profit medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. It was established in 1784 as the national body ...

Career and research

In 2017 Nic Daéid was appointed as an expert witness for Grenfell Tower public inquiry presenting oral evidence for the Public Inquiry on two occasions. In 2014, Nic Daéid was appointed as Professor of Forensic Science at the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, having been an academic at the University of Strathclyde for 20 years, where she rose to be the first woman to earn a personal chair in the Department of Chemistry. Nic Daéid has a leadership position with

INTERPOL The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

and the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI). She is chair of the European fire and explosion investigation working group.

Media appearances

In January 2025 Nic Daéd appeared in the first episode of the second series of ''

Lucy Worsley Dr. Lucy Worsley (born 18 December 1973) is an English historian, author, curator and television presenter. She was the joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known amongst UK television viewers as a presenter of BBC Televi ...

Investigates'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, providing a modern view of how the infamous

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

case was handled by scientific experts at the time.

Honours and awards

In 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nic Daéid, Niamh Living people 1967 births 21st-century Irish people Academics from Dundee Irish expatriates in Scotland Academics of the University of Dundee Academics of the University of Strathclyde Forensic scientists Women forensic scientists Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh