Digital Forensics
About the research group
What can digital traces, as found on a mobile phone, tell us about what happened in real life? That's the question the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS)' Digital Forensics research group is trying to answer, providing information and methods that help interpret digital traces related to physical activities.
Interpreting digital traces
Interpreting digital traces left by devices such as mobile phones and smartwatches can be a complex challenge, so the more reliable methods the police and other links in the criminal justice chain have at their disposal, the better.
Modern digital devices contain a wealth of information about what their user got up to, but the trick is to gain access to this information and interpret it properly.
Analytical methods for the criminal justice chain
The Digital Forensics research group is now laying the foundation for such methods, e.g. by developing analytical methods that fashion digital traces into a timeline of events surrounding a crime. This can enable the criminal justice chain - from police to prosecutors to the judiciary - to build scenarios in criminal cases and make substantiated statements about people's actions based on digital traces.
Jan Peter van Zandwijk, professor of Digital Forensics
Jan Peter van Zandwijk has been a special professor of Digital Forensics at the AUAS since late 2024. He joined the Digital and Biometrics Traces division of the Netherlands Forensic Institute in 2011, combining investigative work in criminal cases with case-related R&D and knowledge transfer within the criminal justice chain.
Connecting education and research
The research of the Digital Forensics research group aligned with teaching in AUAS' Biomedical Technology and Forensic Science study programmes. The Data2Activity Community of Practice, for example, sees students contribute to the group's research by conducting experiments with digital devices and analysing the traces left on them.
On top of this, the research group has developed a module especially for the 'From bit to evidence' minor, centring on a fictitious murder case and asking whether the digital evidence is consistent with the suspect's account of events. Students can also write their final thesis on digital topics studied by the research group or the Netherlands Forensic Institute.
Partners of the Digital Forensics research group
The group's research is conducted by the professor himself in collaboration with lecturer-researchers from AUAS' Forensic Science and Forensic Trace Dynamics research groups, as well as the Netherlands Forensic Institute. The research group also collaborates with the University of Amsterdam.