Jane Whipp

Background

About Jane Whipp

I am a motivated, detail-oriented critical thinker. If I encounter a problem, I like to solve it. That is how my previous businesses were born and the reason I am now pursuing forensic and criminological research. My boys are now young adults and my goals in life have pivoted to a desire to contribute to the betterment of society. I am in my fourth year studying a Bachelor of Forensic Science and a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. While studying as a mature student has been challenging at times, I have found that my excellent time management and organisational skills help me to submit assessments on time and achieve the Griffith University Award of Academic Excellence three years in a row. I am interested in pursuing a research career and in 2021 completed a research internship with the Criminology school at Griffith University on the wellbeing of youth who have been convicted of a sexual offence, supervised by Dr Danielle Harris. This placement entailed a literature search, compilation of an EndNote library and a short review of the short-listed articles. Recently I undertook a placement as a Forensic Research Assistant under supervision of Associate Professor Carney Matheson. This placement allowed me to work on a variety of projects, hone my DNA extraction technique and improved my protocol writing and experimental design skills. Both these placements allowed me to enhance my research skills and provided invaluable experience in real-world research settings. My interests include the prevention of youth criminalisation, and raising the age of criminal responsibility across Australia. I would like to research in this area to provide evidence based, non-custodial solutions to help children improve their social-environmental situations, reduce youth justice contact, and have a brighter future. I am also passionate about child protection, and would relish employment dedicated to the eradication of child sexual assault and associated child sexual assault material (CSAM) trading on various social media platforms. Within forensic biology, I would like to develop innovative ways to link evidentiary items to perpetrators to prevent miscarriages of justice, especially in the area of sexual assaults. I am currently working on a proof of concept project related to the forensic biology potential of the human microbiome with the intention of expanding the scope upon completion with the aim to have real world potential. If you would like a dedicated, hard-working collaborator, please reach out!