UC grad follows forensic dreams

Matthew Hogan

13 April 2016: When Yvonne King watched police procedural TV shows with notepad in hand in her native Hong Kong as a teenager, little did she realise her enthusiasm would lead to a coveted award from Australia's federal police agency.

As a high school student, she dreamed of turning her love of chemistry into a career in forensics and her research into available courses led her to the University of Canberra website.

"I was doing some research online as I was about to finish high school and I stumbled across this degree at UC. I soon found that this whole degree was just exactly what I needed to prepare myself to work in forensics," she said.

Upon relocating to Australia, she soon realised in lectures that the fictionalised portrayals on TV didn't quite reflect the real world situations, but that didn't stop her from giving her all.

Her tenacity paid off, as she won the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Forensics High Academic Achiever Award, which is awarded to the student that gets the highest grades in the Bachelor of Applied Science in Forensic Studies course.

"I didn't even know there were awards to be won at first - I only wanted to do my best so I can be more competitive when I am out finding work one day," she said.

After accepting an invitation to complete an honours project at the University, Ms King is delving into the forensic examination of fibres, and hopes her research leads to the coveted AFP Forensics Research Excellence Award.

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