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The Analytical Zen Podcast

The Analytical Zen Podcast

By: Geraldine M. Dowling
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Biography and Research: See Orcid.org/0000-0001-8344-6582 (presenting 100+ academic works)

Dr. Geraldine M. Dowling SFHEA has over 20 years of experience in forensic and analytical toxicology, food safety, drug residue testing, method validation and ISO 17025 laboratory accreditation. She also has more than 10 years in academia as a university educator. She was past elected member of Academic Council at Atlantic Technological University and member of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Working Group. Her research spans forensic and clinical toxicology, with a focus on forensic medicine, clinical practice, drug testing, harm reduction and laboratory accreditation.


Dr. Dowling is an internationally recognized researcher and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), awarded for excellence in teaching, research, and leadership. She is the creator and host of The Analytical Zen Podcast, designed to make complex scientific concepts accessible to students and the public (available on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts).

She serves as Vice Chair (formerly Treasurer) of the United Kingdom and Ireland Association of Forensic Toxicologists, representing forensic practitioners across England, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Channel Islands. She is also the elected regional representative for Ireland with the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists, a member of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (USA), and an elected member of the London Toxicology Group Committee.


Dr. Dowling has trained professional staff and students in ISO 17025-accredited national government laboratories in Ireland, including The State Laboratory, Teagasc, and the Marine Institute. She is a Principal Investigator, supervising postgraduate students (PhD/MSc), with research interests in analytical chemistry, forensic science, clinical/medical toxicology, metabolomics, medicine, food safety and education.


Dr. Dowling contributed her expertise to the Irish Government's "Emerging Drug Trends and Drug Checking Working Group", which aims to introduce safer, harm-reduction strategies for drug use.


She is a contributing author, reviewer and editor for international journals, including Drug Testing and Analysis, Journal of Analytical Toxicology and Forensic Science Review. She has written, edited, and co-authored four books.

Dr. Dowling is Editor-in-Chief of the IACFT Journal and the Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal.


She is nominated as a Honorary Professor at Kingston University, holds a Visiting Senior Lecturer appointment at King’s College London, UK and holds a Honorary Senior Lecturer appointment at Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, UK. She previously served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin and as a past Visiting Professor at the National University of La Plata, Argentina.


Dr. Dowling’s work has had a lasting impact, with Ireland’s Marine Institute using her methods in aquaculture monitoring since 2006 and the U.S. FDA adopting her research for drug monitoring since 2011.


www.linkedin.com/in/geraldine-dowling-msc-pgdip-phd-sfhea-2b66b835


© 2026 The Analytical Zen Podcast
Episodes
  • Inside Synthetic Cathinones

    Inside Synthetic Cathinones
    Nov 29 2025

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    In this episode of The Analytical Zen Podcast, Dr. Simona Pichini guides us through the complex and fast-evolving world of synthetic cathinones. Dr. Pichini is an Italian pharmacotoxicologist and Acting Director of the National Centre on Addiction and Doping at the Italian National Institute of Health. She is a leading expert in the pharmacokinetics and toxicology of drugs of abuse, new psychoactive substances, doping agents and alcohol biomarkers across all age groups. With a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology and more than 400 scientific publications (H-index: 56) and her work bridges analytical science with clinical outcomes. Dr. Pichini also advises national helplines, contributes to Italy’s Early Warning System on NPS, and serves as a scientific expert for the EU Drugs Agency. She is a member of the editorial boards of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis. An active member of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) since 2004, she received the TIAFT Achievement Award in 2010 becoming the first woman ever to do so and she currently serves as Secretary of the Association. She also co-organized the TIAFT 2023 meeting in Rome, Italy.

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    27 mins
  • The Chemsex Conversation: Sex, Society and New Psychoactive Substances

    The Chemsex Conversation: Sex, Society and New Psychoactive Substances
    Oct 31 2025

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    In this thought-provoking episode, Dr. Luis Manuel Menéndez Quintanal joins us to explore the complex intersections between sexual health, substance use and forensic toxicology.

    From the science of new psychoactive substances (NPS) to the social and health implications of chemsex, this conversation sheds light on an urgent and often misunderstood topic - blending scientific insight with compassionate harm reduction perspectives.

    🔬 Listen now and join the conversation on how science and society can better understand and respond to emerging drug trends.

    #Chemsex #NewPsychoactiveSubstances #DrugAwareness #SubstanceUse #SexualHealth #SocietyAndScience #HarmReduction #ForensicScience #Medicine #ForensicToxicology
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    41 mins
  • Bones Tell Stories: The Reach of Forensic Anthropology

    Bones Tell Stories: The Reach of Forensic Anthropology
    Sep 2 2025

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    In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Tania Delabarde, leading forensic anthropologist at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Paris, where she has been instrumental since 2013 in the identification of unidentified bodies and coordination of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) protocols.

    Dr. Delabarde’s career spans some of the world’s most complex humanitarian and post-conflict contexts, from her early work with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the UN Mission in Kosovo, to missions across South America and Africa. Since 2011, she has also worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Ivory Coast, Mali, Burundi, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Congo and Central African Republic.

    A long-time contributor to INTERPOL’s DVI Working Group, Dr. Delabarde brings a rare blend of field experience and scientific depth to the challenges of forensic identification.

    We also explore her cutting-edge research with the CNRS BABEL UMR8045 team, where she investigates:
    🦴 Skeletal markers for identification
    🦴 Bone lesions through histological analysis
    🦴 Bone diagenesis and postmortem change

    Join us for a conversation at the intersection of science, justice and humanity with one of the most respected voices in forensic anthropology today.
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    28 mins
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