Shake it out for Science is a Citizen Science project collaboration between the Australian Federal Police, ChemCentre and Curtin University.
In this project, citizen scientists will be trained to shake and collect debris from clothing items, then collect the debris or "shakings" using a technique that is employed by forensic experts across Australia. The shakings will then be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory at ChemCentre, where they will be examined for trace evidence - specifically glass fragments. Citizen Scientists will also need to complete an online questionnaire for each shaking sample submitted.
The aim of Shake it out for Science is for the data collected to provide an estimation of background levels of broken glass in the population.
A pilot study for Shake it out for Science was conducted in 2022: once the pilot program has been evaluated we look forward to commencing an expanded national project.