SFU Archaeology alumnus recognized for innovation in human remains recovery

This spring, SFU Archaeology alumnus Megan Bassendale was recognized as BC Business’s 2024 runner-up Woman of the Year for innovation.

Since completing her undergraduate degree at SFU in 2000, Bassendale has become a leading global forensic advisor and specialist in human remains identification and recovery and founder of her own forensic consulting firm, Forensic Guardians International.

As a student, she was drawn to the human rights and social justice work within the field of archaeology and developed a taste for forensics.

“I liked the social consequence of it. You were doing something that was helping right now,” she says. “You could give a family an answer, and that part was really important to me.”

After observing some of the work her professors were doing for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), she was particularly interested in participating in the recovery efforts happening in Bosnia following the end of the Bosnian War.

But how do you go from an archaeology degree to working on mass graves?

After completing a master’s in forensic archaeology from the University College of London in the UK, she reached out to professors who she knew had worked in Bosnia for advice.

“Somebody said that you have to have soft tissue experience; you have to know what it’s like to work in a mortuary,” she says. “So, I got a job in Glasgow at the police mortuary.”

After two years in Glasgow doing autopsies and working with bereaved families, a contract position finally came up at the International Commission for Missing Persons in Bosnia and Bassendale took it, working in human remains recovery and analysis there for nearly three years.

Following that position, she was hired by the United Nations in Cyprus as a field coordinator for the Committee of Missing Persons in Nicosia, and then by the International Committee of the Red Cross two years later.

Based out of Georgia, she worked throughout the Caucasus region in Central Asia, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan, focusing on helping local authorities get a project off the ground that would aid in the recovery and identification of the missing deceased so that families are able to find closure.

“We got a full-blown project going that’s still going to this day, where bodies are being recovered, they’re being analyzed and returned to their families. So that was incredible,” she says.

After seven years, Bassendale was posted to Lebanon, where she continued to do similar work to help with missing persons from the Lebanese Civil War. Additionally, she helped train authorities there on how to properly and efficiently triage human remains when an event first happens—minimizing the number of people that are unidentified and missing.

“So that you get names right away, families get answers, and any evidence that might be there can be used in a criminal proceeding,” she explains.

With two young children by that time, Bassendale decided to return to Vancouver in 2017. This is when she opened her forensic consulting company, bringing 25 years-worth of experience and insight from working in the field and witnessing many of the challenges faced by first responders.

“We started innovating and seeing what we could do and what we could develop to make things better,” she says.

They began with developing body tags so that first responders have a standardized way to mark bodies. Then, they continued with developing temporary grave markers that are both durable and easy to record information in an emergency context. Both work in conjunction with an app for users to efficiently record key information about where a body is recovered and buried.

“We’ve made it really straightforward. I won’t say ‘easy,’ because I don’t think it’s ever easy, but it’s straightforward so that people will understand what information to collect and how to collect it,” she says. “It’s intuitive because it’s on your phone, so it’s something everyone has and that everybody can use.”

Currently in its testing stages, further development on the app will focus on making it usable offline, and available in multiple languages.

Starting a company is never easy, and Bassendale says it took resilience and flexibility to make it happen. However, the rewards have made it all worth it for her.

“I love being able to help people with the knowledge that I have and have the flexibility to do the things that are important to me. It’s my vision and my passion, and there’s a satisfaction in that.”

Students interested in reaching out to Bassendale for questions or to chat are welcome to reach out to her at megan@forensicguardians.com.