Tools for Commissioning parties

For an investigative question which requires specific scientific expertise, it may be difficult to assess whether an expert has the right experience, knowledge and/or background required. The Appointment Questionnaire offers commissioning parties a useful tool that they can use to find a suitable Ad Hoc expert and assess their expertise.

As the commissioning party, you need to submit the investigative question that needs to be answered. You can send the investigation question and the questionnaire to the expert, who will complete the latter. You will then receive the completed Appointment Questionnaire from the expert, along with their CV. Based on this information, you may decide to appoint the expert to conduct specific research and/or answer your investigative question.

Download the Appointment Questionnaire

The expert you have contacted may not have prepared a report in a criminal law case before, or only rarely. Ad Hoc experts may not know which information their forensic report should contain and how it should be written. To resolve this, commissioning parties may send the Forensic Report Guideline along with their appointment or research assignment.

The Forensic Report Guideline contains a template that guides the Ad Hoc expert through every step of the reporting procedure, highlighting those elements that a good-quality forensic report must include in any case.

Download the Forensic Report Guideline

A specific question has arisen during your case, and now you are looking for a suitable expert to answer it. The overview of organisations of experts can help you find the right expert. This overview lists the various (non-profit) organisations that maintain a list of experts. You will also find a brief explanation of the working methods of these organisations and their contact details.

Go to the overview of organisations of experts

It is common in the field of forensics to have a report reviewed/read as a check by a fellow scientific expert. If that is not possible, the expert is asked to inform the commissioning party and may request Feedback from an experienced NRGD assessor. This feedback does not pertain to the scientific content of the report but concerns broad advice on clarity, logical consistency and the substantiation of conclusions. A secondary aim is to avoid the use of any unnecessary professional jargon or legal pitfalls. The expert may use this advice to improve their report before submitting it to the commissioning party. Please feel free to inform the expert about the possibility to ask for feedback from the NRGD for the benefit of the quality of the report.

More information on Report feedback