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Biography
Dr Qian Yang is an Assistant Professor in Sensory and Consumer Sciences at the Division of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics. Dr. Yang has over 10 years of experience in conducting research and teaching in sensory and consumer science and collaborating closely with industries. Dr Yang's research interests include:
Investigating individual variation in sensory perception. E.g. supertasters, thermal tasters and sweet likers, how these taste phenotypes influence food consumption behaviour.
Sweet sensing mechanism: understanding sweet sensing mechanism and its implication on personalised product development for food industries and it's implication for public health (e.g. diabetes).
Understanding consumer motivations and barriers to sustainable food choices, to aid a transition towards a more sustainable food choice.
Development of a new validated consumer response collection method by bringing relevant context to consumer testing via Virtual Reality to improve the ecological validity of sensory testing.
Dr. Yang is also very interested in large-scale global studies looking at taste perception, food preferences and consumer opinions on sustainable food products (e.g. edible insects, cultured meat and plant-based products).
Teaching Summary
Qian teaches sensory and consumer science for Food Science programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. At undergraduate level, she the co-Module Convener with Dr. Rebecca For for… read more
Research Summary
Current research include:
- Connecting consumers with their food via innovative virtual experiences
- Understanding consumer emotional response to different protein alternatives
- Exploring the association between temperature and sweetness perception
- Communicating sustainability with consumers through digital tools
- Understanding sensory properties and consumer opinion on edible insects
- Understanding consumer opinions on sustainability in food
Qian teaches sensory and consumer science for Food Science programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. At undergraduate level, she the co-Module Convener with Dr. Rebecca For for Sensory Evaluation (BIOS2015) and Consumer Science (BIOS3094) modules. At postgraduate level, she contributes to teaching on both MSc in Food Production Management and Brewing Science. She has received Post-graduate certificate in Higher Education in 2022.
Qian has also extensive experiences delivering besopken trainings for industry delegates.