UCL Institute of Archaeology

• BSc, MA
  
• Senior Lecturer in Forensic Archaeological Science
  
• Steering Group, UCL JDI Centre of the Forensic Sciences
• Member of the UCL Judicial Institute
• Member of the London Transitional Justice Network
• Degree Programme Co-ordinator: MSc Forensic Archaeological Science
• Course Co-ordinator: ARCLG051 Forensic archaeological science
• Course Co-ordinator: ARCLG151 Forensic anthropology

Research Interests

• Forensic anthropology and Human Rights
• Trauma analysis on human bone

Research Directory Records

• Experimental forensic analyses
• Macroscopic Characteristics of Screwdriver trauma
• Mass grave excavation at Tell Fakhriya, Ras al-Ain, Syria
• Recuperation of the Historical Memory

Collaborations

• Previously involved in training courses on Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology offered at the Supreme Courts of Justice of Costa Rica, Ecuador and finally El Salvador, the latter being offered by the organisation Physicians for Human Rights.
• With emphasis on Mass Disasters, participation with the Organisation for Judicial Investigation and the National Emergency Program in Costa Rica .
• In the area of Human Rights, participated with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in Costa Rica, through a workshop in the prevention and investigation of human right abuses.
• Search, location, exhumation and identification of human remains from mass graves related to the Civil War and repression of the Franco regime in Spain. Work done through the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica. The aim is to rescue the bodies of those who died during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and Franco’s regime (1939-1975), and who were buried in clandestine burials, many of which were mass burials. All work is conducted under the request of surviving relatives who wish to bring closure and give their loved ones a proper burial. During July and part of August 2008, I participated in several exhumations and was in charge of the remains’ biological profiling (determining sex, age, stature, individual traits and trauma identification) - see images tab.
• Exhumations conducted on a mass grave in Tell Fakhriya, Syria. The remains recovered were Armenians believed to have died after fleeing Turkey between 1915 and 1923. Work done through Freie Universitat Berlin.

Participation on Human Rights Missions 

• UNMIK (United Nations Mission to Kosovo) and Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London, England. 2000 and 2002 as Senior Forensic Anthropologist
• UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda) and Physicians for  Human Rights, Boston, MA., U.S.A. 1995-1996 as Forensic Anthropologist

Educational Background

• Associate of Science Lane Community College, U.S.A.
• BSc. University of Oregon, U.S.A.
• MA University of Oregon, U.S.A.

• Ferllini, R. (In press). Recent Conflicts, Deaths and Simple Technologies, the Rwandan Case. In Smith, M.; C. Knusel (Eds.): The Bioarchaeology of Human Conflict: ‘Traumatized Bodies’ from Early Prehistory to the Present. London, Routledge.
  
• Ferllini, R. (2012). Silent Witness. Second edition, revised. New York: Firefly Books.
  
• Ferllini, R. (2012). Macroscopic and microscopic analysis of knife stab wounds on fleshed and clothed ribs. Journal of Forensic Sciences 57(3): 683-690.
  
• Ferllini, R. (2012). Experiencias en antropología forense: perspectivas de una voluntaria extranjera. Boletin Galego de Medicina Legal e Forense 18, 71-80.
• Starkie, A., Birch, W. Ferllini, R., and Thompson, T. J. (2011). Investigation into the Merits of Infrared Imaging in the Investigation of Tattoos Postmortem. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 56(6):1569–1573.
  
• Ferllini, R. (2010). Tissue Preservation and Projectile Context in a Spanish Civil War Victim. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 17(5): 285-288.
• Ferllini, R. and Croft, A. (2009). The Case of an Armenian Mass Grave. Journal of Human Rights 8: 229-244.
• Ferllini, R. (2008). Human Rights Violations Past and Present: Consequences and Interventions. General Anthropology 15(1): 1, 7-9.
• Croft, A. and Ferllini, R. (2007). Macroscopic Characteristics of Screwdriver Trauma. Journal of Forensic Science, 52(6): 1243-1251.
• Ferllini, R. (Ed.) (2007). Forensic Archaeology: Human Rights Violations. Springfield, Charles C. Thomas.
• Brickley, M. and R. Ferllini (Eds.) (2007). Forensic Anthropology: Case Studies from Europe. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.
• Ferllini,R. (2006). Challenges in Forensic Anthropology: Terrorism and Human Identification. Revista de Ciencias Forenses 1(1), 39-44
• Ferllini, R. (2003). "The Development of Human Rights Investigations since 1945" Science & Justice, 43, no. 4, pp. 219-224.
• Ferllini, R. (2002). Silent Witness: How Forensic Anthropology is Used to Solve the World's Toughest Crimes. Canada, Firefly Books.
• Ferllini, R. (1999). The Role of Forensic Anthropology in Human Rights Issues". In Scott I. Fairgrive (Ed.): Forensic Osteological Analysis: A Book of Case Studies. Illinois, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Ltd., pp. 287-302.
• Ferllini, R. (1997). "Rwanda: Political Conflict and Genocide", Torture, 7, no. 3, pp. 72-76.

I would welcome applications to supervise PhDs on the following topics:

• Human Rights - mass graves, recuperation of historical memory and any other related subjects.
• Bone trauma - sharp force trauma, saw trauma, blunt trauma and other related subjects

Current Students

•  Dagmar Heinrich -  research on the analysis of sharp force trauma on bone (second supervisor Wendy Birch).