Contact
Biography
Dr. Rebecca Ford (Becki) leads the Sensory and Consumer Science research group, is Deputy Head for the Division of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics within the School of Biosciences and sits on the leadership team for the Future Food Beacon at the University of Nottingham. She is also co-leading the Connect Nottingham initiative - a pioneering community research hub at the newly acquired Castle Meadow Campus, along with Prof. Ellen Townsend. Connect Nottingham puts the community at the centre of what we do at the University.
Becki has a background in industry with experience in Food Manufacturing, New Product Development, Consumer Insights, Global Sensory Panel Training and Consultancy within food, brewing, beverage and consumer goods sectors. She has a doctorate in Multi-Sensory Perception and continues to be fueled by a fascination of the complexity of our sensory systems and the subsequent impact on food choice and consumer behavior. Becki's research is multi-disciplinary, collaborating with scientists in Nutrition, Engineering, Computer Science, Brewing and Flavour Chemistry to name a few. Externally, Becki and the sensory team collaborate with the University of Adelaide (Australia), University of Florence (Italy) and Brock University (Canada). She is vice-chair of the European Sensory Science Society (E3S) and is a member of the E3S taste sensitivity working group. She is also a member of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) and the IFST's Sensory Science Group.
The Sensory and Consumer research group's interests include investigating;
- multimodal flavour perception,
- individual variation in sensory perception,
- the use of digital technologies to understand consumer behavior,
- sustainable consumer behavior.
The research group have a passion for public engagement and knowledge exchange with our ethos of 'learning through engaging' delivering interactive workshops at local, national and global events. We have a number of highly successful Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP's) to drive innovation within local companies.
Teaching Summary
Along with colleague Qian Yang, Becki is module convenor for:
- Sensory Evaluation and Sensory Techniques.
- Consumer Science.
Becki teaches sensory content for Food Science programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She contributes to modules at each stage of undergraduate study, including exciting our first year students through understanding the importance of our sensory system for the enjoyment of food, through to teaching our second year students about sensory evaluation methods for new product development and quality control. Teaching in the final year is focused on exploring consumer science. At postgraduate level she contributes to teaching on Food Production Management and Brewing Science MSc courses. Her pedagogy is 'learning through engaging' and she focuses on maximizing practicals. She is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Authority.
Research Summary
Current research investigates:
- Individual variation in sensory perception with taste phenotype, genotype and thermally-induced taste.
- Research 'in the wild' - Investigating the importance of realistic contexts on consumer response; Exploring the use of immersive technologies to create realistic consumer contexts.
- Fundamental understanding of sensory perception and methodologies: Investigating the nutritional and sensory perception of rare sugars; Improving the sensory quality of low alcohol beer; predictive modeling; exploring the use of temporal methods to increase product discrimination.
- Consumer driven approaches to food sustainability.
Selected Publications
HORT, J, FORD, R, ELDEGHAIDY, S and FRANCIS, S.T, 2016. Thermal taster status: Evidence of cross modal
integration Human Brain Mapping. CLARK, R, LINFORTH, R, BEALIN-KELLY, F and HORT, J, 2011. Effects of ethanol, carbonation and hop acids on
volatile delivery in a model beer system. Journal of the Institute of Brewing.. 117(1), 74-81 CLARK, R, HEWSON, L, BEALIN-KELLY, F and HORT, J, 2011. The interactions of CO2, ethanol, hop acids and
sweetener on flavour perception in a model beer Chemosensory Perception. 4, 42-54