With a childhood spent in the countryside, and with a forestry warden for a father, it was quite natural that Jessica Dekeirsschieter should move towards studies relating to living organisms and biology. It was nonetheless only at the end of her studies at the Gembloux Faculty that she little by little turned towards criminal entomology, discovering the paradox according to which abundant life develops around a dead body. From her end of study dissertation she worked with the National Criminalistics and Criminology Institute, with which Professor Eric Haubruge put her in contact. From this immersion dates the start of her practical knowledge of forensic entomology. ‘When I was younger I was attracted by forensic medicine, but I couldn’t see myself being in close contact with death and morgues all my life. Bio-engineering studies certainly offer me wider career possibilities than forensic medicine.’ She devoted her dissertation to the study of the odours emitted by decomposing pig carcasses and the monitoring of post-mortem colonisation by necrophageous insects. She is now deep into the second year of her doctorate at Gembloux, devoted to a better understanding of the interactions between bodies and the entomofauna, with particular emphasis placed on the biology of a little Coleoptera, Silpha sinuate, very common in this type of environment.

Publications

DEKEIRSSCHIETER J., HAUBRUGE E., Entomologie Forensique : les insectes…pièces à conviction ? Carnard déchaîne du Kauwberg , (to be published).

DEKEIRSSCHIETER J., VERHEGGEN F-J., GOHY M., HUBRECHT F., BOURGUIGNON L., LOGNAY G., HAUBRUGE E., Cadaveric volatile organic compounds released by decaying pig carcasses (Sus domesticus L.) in different biotopes, Forensic Science International. (in press)