A NORTH-EAST university will begin training detectives of the future next month by using innovative methods popularised through TV shows such as CSI Miami and Waking the Dead.

The first students have been enrolled on the University of Sunderland's BSc in forensic computing - dubbed CSI Sunderland. It teaches students the latest technologies being used to help catch criminals.

Undergraduates will be taught how to use criminology, forensic psychology, chemistry, pharmacology and computing to help solve crimes.

The four-year degree course will produce professionals with a grounding in the advanced technologies used by modern police forces. Students will use case studies and be challenged to use modern techniques, such as artificial intelligence, to analyse forensic scene-of-crime data.

They will take their knowledge and skills into the workplace with placements at Northumbria and West Midlands police forces, the Harperley Hall police training centre for scene of crime officers, and at local organisations such as the Northumbria Coalition Against Crime.

The degree is being run by Dr Giles Oatley, senior lecturer at the university's artificial intelligence lab, the Centre for Adaptive Systems.

He said: "The Home Office is emphasising the use of technology-based solutions in crime fighting.

"Forensic data analysis, artificial intelligence and high-quality programming abilities are the skills that criminal investigations of the future will demand, and this degree course will provide students with the skills necessary for a very interesting and enriching career.

"The degree provides students with an understanding of criminology, different types of forensic data and analysis techniques - just like the techniques used on CSI Miami."

The BSc (hons) forensic computing degree begins next month. For more details, contact the University of Sunderland helpline on 0191-515 3000.