Shari Forbes is a Professor and ARC Future Fellow in the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Technology Sydney. She is also the Director of the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER), the first facility in Australia that allows scientists to study the decomposition of human cadavers (colloquially referred to as a body farm). She completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Applied Chemistry and Forensic Science and a PhD (Forensic Chemistry) at the University of Technology Sydney. She was the founding Director of the Forensic Science program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) from 2005-2011 where she also held a Canada Research Chair in Decomposition Chemistry.

Prof. Forbes is an invited member of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences and a member of the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society (ANZFSS). She is the Pacific Officer for the Initiative on Forensic Geology, a directive of the International Union of Geological Sciences. She is regularly consulted on forensic casework and assists police to search for and locate human remains using police dogs and geophysical equipment.