Dr Arie Geursen is a founding Member of the Independent Forensic Practitioners Institute.

Since DNA profiling as first used in New Zealand in 1990, Dr Geursen has assisted in numerous criminal cases by providing expert evidence where DNA profiling was pivotal to the case. In addition he has assisted two Ministerial Enquiries into matters of concern with DNA profiling in New Zealand.

He is renowned for his role in pointing out the defects in the prosecution’s DNA evidence in the case of David Dougherty, who was wrongly convicted of rape in 1993.

He has been a guest lecturer for the University of Otago Faculty of Law on the challenges presented by complex scientific evidence in criminal cases.

In 2012 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to science.