David Ballard

Dr. David Ballard is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Genomics at King's College London, affiliated with the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences within the Department of Analytical, Environmental and Forensic Sciences. He serves as programme director for the MSc/MRes Forensic Science programmes, teaching forensic genetics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. With over 20 years of experience, he combines forensic casework as principal scientist at King's ISO17025-accredited DNA laboratory with research in forensic genomics.

Ballard holds a BSc in Physiology from University College London (1998), an MSc in Forensic Science from King's College London (2000), and a PhD from the University of London (2013) titled 'Characterization and differentiation of three British population groups'.

His research focuses on four primary areas:

• Genomic discovery of forensically relevant variation through massively parallel sequencing (MPS)
• Implementation of MPS in kinship and criminal casework
• DNA intelligence applications including phenotype prediction (age, ancestry, physical features)
• Metagenomics for forensic intelligence from non-human DNA sources

Current investigations examine MPS technology for STR/SNP analysis, international forensic standards development, DNA methylation for age estimation, and biogeographical ancestry prediction.

Ballard's extensive publication record shows consistent focus on forensic genomics innovations, particularly novel sequencing applications for kinship analysis, STR nomenclature standardization, DNA intelligence tools, and epigenetic age prediction methods. His work frequently involves international collaborations and methodological validations.

As programme director, Ballard leads postgraduate forensic science programmes and advises students. He directs multiple research projects including forensic genomics discovery, MPS implementation in kinship, international casework applications, and wildlife crime forensics. He co-leads King's Forensics research group and represents King's on the International Society of Forensic Genetics DNA Commission developing sequencing standards.