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About the author

Kris De Wael, PhD, studied physical chemistry at the University of Leuven. During his doctoral research, he examined hydrogen bonding in model biomolecules using spectroscopic methods.

He is a former forensic expert at the Belgium forensic institute (NICC – INCC), where he worked from 1997 till 2020. In this position, he was involved briefly in hair examinations. However, he conducted fibre casework and research in fibre examination for the most significant part of his career. He examined and supervised hundreds of fibre cases. His research in the phenomenon of dichroism, using polarization microscopy and microspectrophotometry with plane polarized light (MSP-PPL), led to the publication of a series of papers on this topic. He also published on diverse subjects, such as particular fibre types, fibre transfer, persistence and recovery.

He was an active member of the European Fibres Group, nowadays called the European Textile and Hair Group (ETHG), an expert working group of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI). In 2009, he received the Michael C. Grieve award for best presentation. Over the past 20 years, he has led training and education of new fibre examiners, scene of crime technicians, police officers, and judicial system members.

In 2020, he started Cobalt blue coaching, a small company involved in tutoring students and pupils in chemistry, physics, and biology. Kris has always been intrigued by teaching and the learning process. With this photo atlas of textile fibres, he wishes to contribute to forensic microscopy training.