Events

AAFS Plenary Session

AAFS Plenary Session: Thursday 26 February 2026 at 6pm.  Location: The Union University & Schools Club, 25 Bent Street (Cnr Phillip St), Sydney, NSW 2000

Title: Legal responses to forensic errors – heading in the wrong direction! 

Speaker: Dr Bob Moles

Abstract: This presentation will briefly refer to some of the most serious forensic and legal errors that have occurred in the USA, Canada, and the UK, and will outline the responses to those failures. Dr Moles will then explain how, in his view, aspects of the Australian legal system have compromised our ability to recognise and respond effectively to profoundly flawed forensic cases. While, early identification of errors and timely remedial action should serve the interests of all parties, recent legal developments in Australia have created obstacles that make meaningful compliance by forensic experts effectively impossible. Dr Moles will argue that there is a shared interest in challenging these changes and advocating for their reconsideration and reform. 

Bio: Dr Moles graduated in law as top student in his year from Queen’s University Belfast in 1978. He came within 90 seconds of being killed in the first daylight bombing in Belfast. He was awarded a Major State Studentship by the UK government to undertake a PhD tenable at Balliol College Oxford and Edinburgh University. He completed his PhD at Edinburgh. It was a major critique of the Oxford Professor in Jurisprudence. He subsequently held positions as: Lecturer in Law, Queens University Belfast, Senior Lecturer in Law, Australian National University, Associate Professor in Law, University of Adelaide. He has developed the Networked Knowledge project (netk.net.au), internationally recognised as a major online resource for materials on miscarriages of justice. He is Adjunct Associate Professor in Law, Flinders University