Research has a high priority at the department, and is mainly derived by the tasks carried out by the department and less basic research oriented. Research is carried out about death causes, and the department is aiming at minimizing the number of deaths, where the cause of death after an autopsy is still uncertain.
Within the last 10 years, three doctoral theses have been published, dealing with (1) drug abuse, (2) lepra in Denmark in the past, and (3) Computertomografi in foresic medicine.
For the moment there are two ongoing ph.d.-Projects, one about gene mutations within a large material of dead drug addicts compared to a similarly large material about living drug addicts and healthy persons. The purpose is to investigate why some drug addicts die of a certain drug concentration whereas other persons survive. The other project is connected to the project, TheCityDwellers - Migration and Health in Medieval Viborg.
Department of Forensic Medicine is also carrying out research related to the living, namely about victims of rape, read about a phd-project on the subject here (her).
Research is done in the following fields:
- Forensic pathology
- Forensic toxicologi
- Forensic anthropology – paleodemography, paleoepidemiology, paleopathology
- Alcohol- and drug abuse