Press release
Professor Lucina Hackman appointed a Dame in HM The King’s Birthday Honours list
Lucina Hackman, Professor of Forensic Anthropology and Head of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, has been named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in HM The King’s Birthday Honours List.
Published on 12 June 2026
Professor Lucina Hackman. Credit - University of Dundee
Professor Hackman has been honoured for her services to forensic anthropology.
She said, “I am extremely honoured, and very surprised, that my work has been recognised in this way.
“It is also an honour I feel is shared among all of the people – including colleagues here in the University, across many agencies, and members of the public – who I have worked with over many years.
“My line of work revolves around what are often very difficult and traumatic circumstances, but delivers something which is vital to society. To have that honoured in this way is deeply rewarding.”
Professor Hackman is a global expert who has changed the way that mass fatality events in the UK are investigated, and she has led novel research that has child sexual abusers brought to justice and removed from society. She has worked at the University of Dundee since 2006 and heads the globally renowned Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification.
She designed, implemented and evaluated training programmes in both forensic anthropology and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), when no such professional approach existed and which led to her becoming a 'go to' advisor for Interpol and other global investigative authorities.
She is a Chartered Forensic Anthropologist with the Royal Anthropological Institute and is a registered forensic expert on the forensic expert database of the National Crime Agency.
As a practicing forensic anthropologist she has given evidence in court in relation to trauma analysis, identification, and age estimation. One of her areas of specialty is in the identification of age in the living for the purposes of assisting investigations in asylum seekers and refugees.
Professor Hackman is currently Vice President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and is Chair of the Forensic Anthropology group at the Royal Anthropological Institute.
She was the lead author for the UK Code of Practice in Forensic Anthropology published by the Forensic Regulator and the Royal Anthropological Institute. She was also the lead author for the Judicial Primer in Forensic Anthropology, published by the Royal Society and Royal Society of Edinburgh.