The ENFSI membership has recognised the contributions of Aleksander Głazek by awarding him posthumously the Distinguished ENFSI Contributor Award in 2009.

 

Biographyalexander_glazek

Aleksander Głazek was born in Krakow on April 25, 1955. In 1979 he graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University. At this time he had already worked as a document examiner at the Institute of Forensic Research (IFR). In 1979 he organized for the first time a round-table conference “Forensic expertise – its status and perspectives”. A year later he passed his exam and was appointed as a forensic expert of the Institute. In 1988 he became the Head of Section for Handwriting & Technical Analysis of Documents, and only 2 years later he managed the Department of Criminalistics. From 1991 to 2001 he was a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute (tenures VII, VIII and IX). In 1991 he was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Institute, and the year after he became the Director of the IFR. Twice he was decorated by the President of Poland with the Cross of Merit – in 1999 with a Silver Cross of Merit, and in 2003 – with the Golden Cross of Merit. It is worth to emphasise that this decoration is the highest one which can be awarded to a civilian in Poland.

Only one year after joining ENFSI he was appointed as the chairman of the European Academy of Forensic Sciences (until 2001) and then he was a member of this Academy in 2001–2003. In 2006 he was appointed as a member of the ENFSI Board. Since 2007 he also represented the board in the EAFS.
He was very much engaged in the activities of ENFSI, he tried to blaze new trails of progress for this international organization and very early he started to be recognized as one of its driving forces. In 2000 he organized the Second Triennial EAFS Meeting, gathering in Krakow 800 persons from the ENFSI-institutes. In later years, he organized a lot of One Day, One Issue Seminars. His excellent organizations of all meetings and his hospitality have become legendary.

Aleksander Glazek was also an active scientist. He presented papers during various conferences and symposia, was an author or co-author of several dozen of articles in various national and international journals.

His educational activities embraced lectures for students of the Jagiellonian University, and also of the University of Warsaw. He conducted numerous courses for trainees in legal profession, judges, prosecutors organized within the Forensic Science Education Centre, which he had created.

One cannot forget his contributions to popularisation of forensic sciences. He was one of the co-founders of the ”Prosecutor’s office and the Law” monthly and an active member of its editorial board, as well as of the editorial board of the “Paragraph on the Road” monthly. Since 1992 he thoroughly reviewed every volume of “Problems of Forensic Sciences”.

Aleksander Głazek died on March 6, 2009 after a long and grave illness. All who have been working within the field of forensic science lost an irreplaceable and popular colleague – and first of all – a friend.