Satu Valoriani: Changing Forensic Anthropology
Dr Satu Valoriani is a Lecturer in Forensic Anthropology at LJMU’s School of Biological and Environmental Sciences. Her research centres on human variation, craniometric analysis, and advancing techniques for the identification of human remains. Satu is building a crucial bridge between archaeology, forensic practice, and contemporary social issues in migration and human rights.
Starting as a Postgraduate Researcher and later serving as a Forensic Science and Anthropology Technician, Satu moved into a lecturing role in 2020 at the University of Lancashire and later in 2022 at LJMU. As a Forensic Science and Anthropology Technician, Satu worked across the Faculty to gain insight into applied research and advanced methodologies. As a Lecturer, she is using that knowledge to develop fresh perspectives on international challenges and to take her forensic anthropology research career in new directions. When we met, Satu explained how she is approaching research impact as an early career researcher.
A passion for human identity
Satu’s research is rooted in a lifelong passion for understanding the different ways that human identity is important to people. Human identity is a mix of cultural and biological factors. Drawing from her own multicultural background, where four languages and four nationalities intersect, Satu stresses how her research design must always account for the enormous complexity involved.
Her work focuses on understanding variation in human skeletal remains, with an emphasis on updating and modernising methodologies traditionally used in forensic anthropology. Her earliest research examined craniometric variation across medieval British populations to understand past migration in Britain, using LJMU’s extensive skeletal collections. Today, she continues to expand these methods to better reflect modern populations.
‘Society is changing’, she explains. ‘We don't see the clear, isolated differences between populations that older collections might suggest. We need methods that represent the present-day world, not just the past’. As Satu explains, her work is relevant for everyone who needs to know about these changes, including groups such as policymakers, museum, forensic practitioners, and population health organisations.
By studying variation in past populations, Satu’s work helps reconstruct human movements and cultural identities in the medieval period. The variations of past populations might seem removed from modern-day issues. However, this research generates questions, methodologies, and answers that are vital for forensic anthropology, heritage preservation, and people’s participation in challenging cultural conversations. It plays a critical role today, particularly where migration and conflict have led to unidentified human remains.
This research directly supports several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by promoting fairer and more representative forensic methods, Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) by strengthening identification practices in humanitarian and forensic contexts, and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by contributing to the protection and respectful interpretation of cultural heritage.
As Satu explains, ‘designing research with application in mind is about finding ways to adapt old methods to modern realities—ensuring that identification practices truly represent today’s diverse populations, rather than relying solely on historical datasets that no longer reflect who we are’.
Modernising methods, honouring individuals
At the heart of Satu’s research is a call to develop methods based on thorough scrutiny of methodological assumptions. Many forensic techniques still rely on reference collections created over a century ago. ‘Most European methods are based on skeletons that are hundreds of years old’, Satu notes. These collections may not accurately reflect the questions modern practitioners and policymakers are seeking to answer.
The modern implications affect their use identifying new victims. Their historical implications include embedding centuries-old assumptions into our modern understanding of heritage and preservation opportunities. Satu highlights that particularly in the UK, access to modern datasets remains challenging due to rightfully stringent ethical constraints. However, the need remains to modernise practices to better reflect today's diverse populations. One key area of focus is developing age estimation methods using DNA methylation in skeletal remains, working with colleagues at LJMU and the University of Madrid in Spain (University of Madrid alongside her LJMU colleagues Mirko Pegoraro and Rui Martiniano). Another is critically assessing the terminology used in forensic practice to describe population affinity, a project she is developing with colleagues at Cranfield University.
‘We are looking at what terminology is being used in published work and thinking about what would be more appropriate and representative’, she explains. Normalising respectful and accurate terminology is a small but powerful step toward making forensic anthropology more inclusive, ethical, and applicable to modern cases.
The way practitioners describe identity matters a great deal. Standard language makes the records more consistent and trustable. Moreover, technical language shapes perception. Ensuring it is both scientifically rigorous and socially respectful is a complex challenge but highly important for enabling improved forensic practice.
Collaboration on challenges
Satu believes firmly that the future of forensic anthropology lies in multidisciplinary collaboration. Throughout her career, she has sought to build bridges beyond her immediate field, working with medical researchers, radiologists and molecular biologists to push forensic methods forward. ‘I think we need to stop being anthropologists locked away in our labs’, she says. ‘We need to collaborate widely—to innovate, to adapt, and to make our methods accessible for the realities of the modern world’.
By bringing multiple disciplines to bear on a challenge, Satu works in teams that reinvigorate research ideas and take them in new directions. With creative thought and critical discussions, diverse research outcomes and older collections can become resources for addressing new, unexpected issues. As an early-career researcher, approaching research impact in this way opens opportunities for new projects and collaborations. It broadens research and meets social challenges simultaneously.
This practical approach extends to resourcefulness too. ‘Science is expensive’, as Satu says, and funding challenges are a reality for most researchers. While forensic anthropology has seen rapid technological advances, such as 3D scanning and DNA methylation for age estimation, she is keenly aware that not all researchers or practitioners have access to cutting-edge resources.
Rather than seeing these barriers as insurmountable, Satu advocates for creativity and collaboration: working with other disciplines, making smarter use of existing collections, and seeking out new partnerships to push the field forward: ‘how can we use what we were using before in a modern way? I think to overcome the barrier of funding, sometimes we can find a method of adapting and modernising what we've been doing’.
From technician to lecturer: a journey shaping practice
Satu’s experience as a forensic science and anthropology technician at LJMU has also deeply shaped her approach to teaching and research. Working hands-on with the university’s extensive skeletal collections, she developed an acute awareness of how resources can be better used to support both education and research.
‘The technician’s work is vital—and having that experience made me appreciate the infrastructure behind teaching’, she says. ‘It gave me the skills to think practically: What do we have, and how can we use it better for the benefit of our students and research?’
Being a technician gave Satu a spur to seeing new applications of research equipment and collections, which is a crucial step for viewing impact as a creative new direction for research projects. Her career developed skills in project and resource management, and in explaining the implications of complex methods to new audiences, all of which are vital to collaborating with partner organisations and making a difference.
Looking ahead: pathways to impact
Satu is clear about how the impact lens affects her research design: she aims to modernise forensic anthropology methods, making them representative, accessible, and adaptable for both archaeological and forensic casework.
Although early in her forensic anthropology research career, Satu is working on supporting cultural heritage projects, improving human identification, and informing museum partnerships. Her work blends rigorous science with social responsibility. Satu believes the purpose of forensic anthropology lies in serving people, whether looking at the past and protecting cultural heritage or looking into the future by developing improved training pathways for future practitioners.
Her vision reflects a broader goal shared by many emerging researchers: to create forensic sciences that are ethically grounded, scientifically robust and socially relevant.
Satu spoke with Elysia Greenway
The British Association for Forensic Anthropology conference
The British Association for Forensic Anthropology (BAFA) conference will be held at LJMU on 29 to 30 November 2025, organised by Satu and others.
The conference invites presentation proposals on the theme ‘Tracing Violence and Decay: New Perspectives in Trauma and Taphonomy’ or on related topics. It will be an excellent opportunity to see the frontiers of Forensic Anthropology research.
Please note:
The deadline to submit is 31 October 2025.
Please email Committee@BAFA-UK.org to submit a proposal or for more information.