Ian Dadour

Adjunct professor, Murdoch University
Professor Ian Dadour completed his Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia and went on to complete a PhD in Zoology specialising in acoustics and population genetics of bushcrickets. Since gaining his PhD, he has researched in several disciplines including insect behaviour and evolutionary biology, insect ecology, applied entomology and forensic entomology.
Following a series of postdoctoral fellowships in Germany on insect mating systems and then a University of Adelaide Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Waite Institute on habitat selection by butterflies, he began work in 1989 at the Western Australian Department of Agriculture. As well as being the Officer-in-Charge of the Dung Beetle/ Bush Fly Programme, this was the beginning of his forensic entomology career. In 1999 Ian secured an Australian Research Council grant at the University of Western Australia to investigate oviposition of insects on decomposing corpses.
In 2008 Ian was promoted to Professor, a culmination of establishing the Centre for Forensic Science in 2000 and substantive and outstanding contributions nationally and internationally in each of the areas of research, teaching and service. During this period Ian sustained a high level of research and scholarship for over a decade and has established himself as a leading scholar in the field of forensic entomology. This is documented through a portfolio of peer-reviewed journal and industry publications, a succession of ARC and other research and consultancy project grants, attracting and successfully supervising many postgraduate thesis candidates and invitations to teach law enforcement agencies globally. As a consequence of research conducted at the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Anthropological Facility in Knoxville, Ian was part of the teaching faculty with the FBI, and each year since 2003 until 2014 he has been an instructor for the FBI Evidence Response Team in the Human Remains Recovery School. Ian is also affiliated with the new Anthropological Facility at Oakridge (TN) operated by the Forensic Academy (UT). As well he has collaboration with the largest and more recently established Forensic Anthropology Research Facility at Texas State University at San Marcos. Ian became a Professor with The Boston University Medical School in 2015 and taught a unit of forensic entomology into their Master of Forensic Anthropology Course as well as supervising Master degree students. Ian is a Visiting Professor at Lincoln University, UK and prior to Brexit he was teaching annually into the Erasmus Mundus (EM) Master of Forensic Science Course. He continues to supervise Master students in AUS, UK and USA. While Director of the Centre of Forensic Science at UWA in 2015 over 450 students gained Graduate Certificates/Diplomas, 67 students were awarded Master degrees and 38 students received either a PhD or combined Master/PhD degrees. Ian continues to be the Western Australian Honorary Forensic Entomologist and has appeared as an expert witness in this discipline in courts in Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. Currently, Ian is Head of Research and Education with Source Certain (a forensic/provenance company concerned with supply chain integrity of food and minerals).