Prof. Sevil Atasoy Met with Forensic Sciences Students and Their Families

Vice President of Üsküdar University, President of the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Prof. Sevil Atasoy, met with first-year Forensic Sciences students and their families. In the traditional meeting, Atasoy explained the importance and responsibilities of the forensic sciences profession to the students, highlighting the role of evidence impartiality, scientific rigor, and intellectual honesty in ensuring justice. Addressing the families, Atasoy emphasized that young people trained in forensic sciences would directly touch human lives, human dignity, and justice, advising students to be curious, honest, and meticulous.  

Vice President of Üsküdar University, President of the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Prof. Sevil Atasoy, met with students who enrolled in the Forensic Sciences department this year and their families.

Students and parents showed great interest in the meeting held at Üsküdar University Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall.

“Welcome to One of the World's Most Important Professions”

 Vice President Prof. Sevil Atasoy began her speech by drawing attention to the importance of the responsibilities that individuals working in forensic sciences would undertake; “For a moment, look around you. Look at the people sitting to your right and left. In a few years, some of you will be at a workbench at three in the morning, the only person awake in the building, deciding whether a single fiber is important. Some of you will be in a courtroom, and a judge will lean forward to hear what you have found because what you find will help decide whether a person returns to their children or spends the rest of their life behind a wall. Some of you will be the reason a family finally learns what happened to their daughter who disappeared twenty years ago, and some of you, I promise you, will be the reason an innocent person walks free. This is the work you have chosen. So before I say anything else, let me be clear: welcome to one of the world's most important professions.” she began her words.

“Forensic Science is Not Magic, It is Patience”

Atasoy stated that forensic sciences are often perceived incorrectly and dramatically by the public; “When people say ‘forensic sciences,’ they often imagine what they see on television. Dramatic lights. A single clever clue. A case solved in sixty minutes with a commercial break in the middle. I want you to gently set that picture aside today because the reality is much more beautiful and much more difficult. Real forensic science is not magic. It is patience. It is the willingness to look at something for the hundredth time that ninety-nine people would give up on at the tenth glance. It is the discipline to say, ‘I don’t know yet,’ at the moment when the police, the press, and the public are desperately waiting for you to say something definitive. Forensic science is as much the science of knowing its limits as it is of discovery, and this attitude of not saying more than the evidence allows makes you strong. Because there is a truth about our field that I want you to carry with you from your first day: we are the ones who speak for the physical world.” she stated.

“Evidence is Impartial, and You are its Interpreter”

Atasoy, drawing attention to the critical role of forensic sciences within the justice system, said; “A witness can be mistaken. Memory is fragile. We now know that faulty eyewitness testimony is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. A confession might have been coerced. A story can be told in dozens of different ways depending on who is telling it and what they stand to gain, but a bloodstain does not lie. A tool mark does not change its story to please the prosecutor. A DNA profile doesn't care if the defendant is rich or poor, powerful or forgotten. Evidence is impartial, and you are its interpreter. When you do your job honestly, you give a voice to the only participant in every crime who cannot speak for themselves. And that is the truth. This is a sacred responsibility, and I do not use that word lightly. Forensic science stands at the exact intersection of science and justice, and the weight of both these words is immense. When forensic science is rigorous, it protects the innocent, identifies the guilty, and holds the powerful accountable. When it is careless, biased, or exaggerated, it does the exact opposite: it convicts the wrong person and releases the right one. There is no other field of science where the difference between good work and bad work is directly measured by human lives and human freedom. In most fields, a flawed experiment leads to a retracted paper. A flawed forensic analysis, however, can lead to a wrongful conviction.” 

“Intellectual Honesty is the Heart of Our Profession”

“In the coming years, you will learn a great deal. You will learn chemistry, biology, and physics, and at the end of a challenging period, you might wonder why you need to understand the underlying science so deeply when the device on the workbench seems to be doing the work itself. Your answer is this: the device does not testify. You do. A machine can produce a number, but only a scientist can explain to the court what that number means, and equally importantly, what it does not mean. The moment you stop understanding your own methods is the moment you become dangerous. So learn the fundamentals as if lives depend on it, because one day, they truly will. You will also learn something that no textbook can fully teach you: intellectual honesty. This is the heart of our profession. The most important sentence you will learn in forensic science is not ‘I found the answer.’ It is ‘The evidence does not support this conclusion.’ You will feel pressure to find what everyone wants you to find, real pressure. Resisting that pressure every single time, without exception, is the job itself. Your loyalty is not to the police, not to the prosecution, not to the defense. Your loyalty is to the evidence, and through the evidence, to the truth. Protect this fiercely. It is the only thing that makes your work valuable.” she said.

“There is a Feeling in This Profession You Will Find Nowhere Else…”

Atasoy stated that in the field of forensic sciences, it is important to understand scientific methods deeply, as well as technical knowledge, and to maintain intellectual honesty in the face of professional pressures; “You don't need to be a genius. I have worked with brilliant people who made careless mistakes. And with quiet, meticulous people who never cut corners, and those meticulous ones solved cases that the brilliant ones gave up on. This field doesn't reward raw intellect. It rewards diligence. It rewards relentless curiosity. It rewards the person who reads the protocol one more time, who correctly labels a sample at midnight, exhausted, who asks the uncomfortable question in the meeting when everyone else wants to move on. If you are willing to be that person—and you can choose to be that person starting today—you absolutely belong here. Let me tell you what awaits you on the other side of that difficult work. In this profession, there is a feeling you will find nowhere else. The moment the pieces align, the science is sound, the method is valid, and you realize that what you hold in your hand is not just a result, but an answer awaited by a real family, a real community, a real court. The feeling of being useful in the deepest sense. Not admired. Not famous. Useful. You will help people on the worst days of their lives, perhaps people you will never meet, perhaps in ways they will never fully understand. This is a quiet heroism, and it will sustain you through every long night.” she stated.

“They Took Their First Steps into a Profession That Directly Touches Human Dignity and Justice”

Continuing her speech, Atasoy also addressed the students' families, emphasizing the meaning of studying in forensic sciences and how this profession touches human lives. Atasoy said; “Now, for a moment, I want to address not only our students but also the mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, siblings, and all relatives present here with them today. Dear families, perhaps as you came here today, you thought to yourselves. Our children, whose hands we held just yesterday, whom we took to school, whose worries we shared while they prepared for exams, are now university students. You feel a little pride, a little excitement, perhaps a little anxiety. What kind of lives will they have from now on? What will the profession they chose bring them? Will they be happy and successful? These are all very natural questions. Your children did not just enter a university. They took their first steps into a profession that directly touches human life, human dignity, and justice. One day, an analysis they conduct in a laboratory might answer a question that has remained unanswered for years. One day, a tiny piece of evidence they meticulously examine might lead to the freedom of an innocent person. Perhaps they can uncover the truth a family has been waiting for for years. These are not the heroic acts we see in TV series. These are achievements quietly accomplished by scientists in real life, often whose names no one even hears.” 

“Never Forget That There is a Human Being Behind Every Case File”

Atasoy, emphasizing that success in forensic sciences is based on curiosity, honesty, meticulousness, and a sense of responsibility towards human life, said; “Four years from now, when you see your children at their graduation ceremony, you will not just see young people who have received a diploma. I hope you will find young people before you who think more independently, can make their own decisions, can stand against the majority when necessary, and have the courage to defend what they believe is right. Because the forensic scientist we aim to train is not just someone who can perform the correct analysis. It is also someone who can speak the truth even when it is difficult to do so.  Dear families, today, be proud of your children. Be proud of yourselves for witnessing this journey. Thank you for entrusting them to us. We, too, will do our best for them to grow not only as good scientists but also as good human beings. Therefore, as we begin, I ask this of our students. Be ceaselessly curious. Ask how something works, then ask again. Be humble before the evidence. Let it guide you, not you guide it. Be honest, even if it comes at a cost. Because it will, and it should. Pay attention to small details – labels, chain of custody, documentation – because in our field, small things are never small. And never forget that there is a human being behind every case file, that behind every result there is an outcome that extends far beyond this laboratory.” she said.

“You are Stepping into a Profession That Stands Guard on the Border of Chaos and Justice”

At the end of her speech, Atasoy drew attention to the societal importance of the forensic sciences field and the responsibility that scientists working in this area would undertake; “You are stepping into a profession that stands guard on the border of chaos and justice. The world needs people who will do this work diligently, courageously, and honestly. Today, you are beginning to be that person. Welcome to forensic sciences.” she concluded her words. 

Following the speeches, the academic staff of the Forensic Sciences Department also met with the students.

That Traditional Photo Was Also Taken…

In addition to the meeting, the traditional outdoor photo shoot was also held. Atasoy and the accompanying academic delegation posed for the traditional photo with the Forensic Sciences students who started university this year. Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, President of the Foundation, was also in the frame.