She had won a special Pride of Britain Award by The Daily Mirror in 2017,[2] for her role in solving long standing criminal cases, and her science communications.
Dawson has developed techniques on soil organo-mineral markers in forensic investigations with police authorities and European research collaborators.
She is also an expert advisor to the National Crime Agency, and has worked with numerous police forces in Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Brazil, Belize, and Australia .
[17] There she is leading a programme on Climate and the Environment, focussing on understanding impact on soils, biodiversity and ecosystems and considering adaptation and resilience, and part of the organisations gateway team for external engagement.
[25] Dawson has been involved in television documentaries Catching History's Criminals: The Forensics Story (2015)[26] and Britain's Most Evil Killers (2017)[27] and media interviews.
[30] A BBC radio interview explained how she began a career in soil science, partly as she was a student at the time of the World's End murders.
[31] Dawson was the inspiration for a character (Professor Lee-Ann Inglis) in one of crime writer Ian Rankin's novels, In a House of Lies.
[32] Dawson was given a special recognition in the 2017 Pride of Britain awards: '“Soil sleuth” who has pioneered forensic techniques that have helped solve more than 100 crimes, and put some of the UK’s most notorious killers behind bars.