Qian Yang

Contact

• workRoom A27 Food Science
  Sutton Bonington Campus
  Sutton Bonington
  Leicestershire
  LE12 5RD
  UK
• work01159516126
• Qian.Yang@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Dr. Qian Yang is an Associate Professor in Sensory and Consumer Sciences in the Division of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics. She co leads the sensory and consumer science research group with Dr. Rebecca Ford, has more than 15 years of experience in research and teaching in the field of sensory and consumer science, with extensive collaboration with industry partners.

Her research focuses on understanding sensory perception, consumer behaviour, and their implications for sustainable food systems and human health. Key areas of interest include:

• Sweet sensing mechanisms - investigating how sweetness is perceived, its role in personalised food product development, and its broader implications for public health (e.g., diabetes). Using advanced brain imaging techniques to understand sweet sensing mechanisms.

• Consumer motivations for sustainable food choices - examining drivers and barriers to adopting sustainable diets.

• Innovative consumer testing methods - developing validated approaches for measuring consumer responses, including the use of Virtual Reality, Immersive Room and Realistic Consumption Experience to enhance ecological validity in consumer testing.

• Individual differences in sensory perception - exploring taste phenotypes such as supertasters, thermal tasters, and sweet likers, and how these variations influence food preference and consumption.

• Food texture and consumption- study how different textures affect satiety, eating rate and ad libitum, food intake, with applications for healthier product design.

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 PhD students' 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

Recent Publications

• HANNAH FORD, JOANNE GOULD, LUKAS DANNER and SUSAN E.P. BASTIAN, 2023. “I guess it's quite trendy”: A qualitative insight into young meat-eaters’ sustainable food consumption habits and perceptions towards current and future protein alternatives Appetite.
• HANNAH FORD, YUCHEN ZHANG, JOANNE GOULD, LUKAS DANNER, SUSAN E. P. BASTIAN, REBECCA FORD and QIAN YANG, 2023. Applying regression tree analysis to explore willingness to reduce meat and adopt protein alternatives among Australia, China and the UK Food Quality and Preference.
• GABRIELE KAVALIAUSKAITE, MARGARET THIBODEAU, REBECCA FORD and QIAN YANG, 2023. Using correlation matrices to standardise sweet liking status classification Food Quality and Preference.
• MARIT NIJMAN, QIAN YANG, CLAIRE HIDRIO and REBECCA FORD, 2022. The Stability Of Self-reported Emotional Response And Liking Of Beer In Context Food Quality and Preference.

• View all publications

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 (BIOS3113) modules. At postgraduate level, she contributes to teaching for both MSc in Food Production Management and Brewing Science.

Qian has obtained Post-graduate certificate in Higher Education in 2022. She has an interest in creating interactive learning experiences to enable active learning.

Qian has also extensive experiences delivering besopken training courses for industry delegates.

Past Research

Past PhD students' research include:

• Understanding consumer opinions on sustainability in food
• Cross-cultural differences in taste: the effect of individual variation on consumers' perceptual, hedonic and emotional responses
• Measuring emotional response to sensory attributes: Context effects
• Developing an understanding and improved sensory quality of low alcohol beer
• Investigating the contribution of hop components to the perception of beer flavour
• Understanding consumer sensory perception of beer and wine body

Future Research

Future research include:

• Identifying the mechanisms of gut-brain axis to sweet sensing with type 2 diabetes (funded by Diabetes UK)

• HANNAH FORD, JOANNE GOULD, LUKAS DANNER and SUSAN E.P. BASTIAN, 2023. “I guess it's quite trendy”: A qualitative insight into young meat-eaters’ sustainable food consumption habits and perceptions towards current and future protein alternatives Appetite.
• HANNAH FORD, YUCHEN ZHANG, JOANNE GOULD, LUKAS DANNER, SUSAN E. P. BASTIAN, REBECCA FORD and QIAN YANG, 2023. Applying regression tree analysis to explore willingness to reduce meat and adopt protein alternatives among Australia, China and the UK Food Quality and Preference.
• GABRIELE KAVALIAUSKAITE, MARGARET THIBODEAU, REBECCA FORD and QIAN YANG, 2023. Using correlation matrices to standardise sweet liking status classification Food Quality and Preference.
• MARIT NIJMAN, QIAN YANG, CLAIRE HIDRIO and REBECCA FORD, 2022. The Stability Of Self-reported Emotional Response And Liking Of Beer In Context Food Quality and Preference.
• QIAN YANG, MARIT NIJMAN, MARTIN FLINTHAM, PAUL TENNENT, CLAIRE HIDRIO and REBECCA FORD, 2022. Improving simulated consumption context with virtual Reality: A focus on participant experience Food Quality and Preference.
• YANG, NI, YANG, QIAN, CHEN, JIANSHE and FISK, IAN, 2021. Impact of capsaicin on aroma release and perception from flavoured solutions LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. 138,
• RAMSEY, IMOGEN, YANG, QIAN, FISK, IAN and FORD, REBECCA, 2021. Understanding the sensory and physicochemical differences between commercially produced non-alcoholic lagers, and their influence on consumer liking FOOD CHEMISTRY-X. 9,
• RAMSEY, IMOGEN, YANG, QIAN, FISK, IAN, AYED, CHARFEDINNE and FORD, REBECCA, 2021. Assessing the sensory and physicochemical impact of reverse osmosis membrane technology to dealcoholize two different beer styles. Food chemistry: X. 10, 100121
• THIBODEAU, MARGARET, YANG, QIAN, FORD, REBECCA and PICKERING, GARY, 2021. English version of the food disgust scale: Optimization and other considerations Journal of sensory studies. 36(2), e12639
• CHRISTINA DIETZ, DAVID COOK, QIAN YANG, COLIN WILSON and REBECCA FORD, 2021. A TCATA by modality approach to study the multisensory temporal profile of hop bitter and flavour products applied in lager Food Quality and Preference.
• CHEN Y, MACNAUGHTAN W, JONES P, YANG Q and FOSTER TJ, 2020. The state of water and fat during the maturation of Cheddar cheese Food Chemistry. 303, 125390
• YANG Q, SHEN Y, FOSTER TJ and HORT J, 2020. Measuring consumer emotional response and acceptance to sustainable food products Food Research International.
• YANG, Q, WILLIAMSON, A, HASTED, A and HORT, J, 2020. Exploring the relationships between taste phenotypes, genotypes, ethnicity, gender and taste perception using Chi-square and regression tree analysis Food Quality and Preference. (In Press.)
• RAMSEY, IMOGEN, DINU, VLAD, LINFORTH, ROB, YAKUBOV, GLEB E., HARDING, STEPHEN E., YANG, QIAN, FORD, REBECCA and FISK, IAN, 2020. Understanding the lost functionality of ethanol in non-alcoholic beer using sensory evaluation, aroma release and molecular hydrodynamics SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 10, 20855
• LIU, C., YANG, Q, LINFORTH, R, FISK, I. and YANG, N, 2019. Modifying Robusta coffee aroma by green bean chemical pre-treatment Food Chemistry. 272, 251-257
• YANG, QIAN, KRAFT, MICAELA, SHEN, YUCHI, MACFIE, HAL and FORD, REBECCA, 2019. Sweet Liking Status and PROP Taster Status impact emotional response to sweetened beverage FOOD QUALITY AND PREFERENCE. 75, 133-144
• IMOGEN RAMSEY, CAROLYN ROSS, REBECCA FORD, IAN D FISK, QIAN YANG, JAVIER GOMEZ-LOPEZ and JOANNE HORT, 2018. Using a combined temporal approach to evaluate the influence of ethanol concentration on liking and sensory attributes of Lager beer Food Quality and Preference. 68, 292-303
• LIU, CHUJIAO, NI YANG, QIAN YANG, CHARFEDINNE AYED, ROBERT LINFORTH and IAN D FISK, 2018. Enhancing Robusta coffee aroma by modifying flavour precursors in the green coffee bean
• YANG, Q and HORT, J, 2018. It's all in the genes The Journal of the Institute of Food Science & Technology.
• YANG, QIAN, DORADO, ROCIO, CHAYA, CAROLINA and HORT, JOANNE, 2018. The impact of PROP and thermal taster status on the emotional response to beer FOOD QUALITY AND PREFERENCE. 68, 420-430
• RAMSEY, IMOGEN, ROSS, CAROLYN, FORD, REBECCA, FISK, IAN, YANG, QIAN, GOMEZ-LOPEZ, JAVIER and HORT, JOANNE, 2018. Using a combined temporal approach to evaluate the influence of ethanol concentration on liking and sensory attributes of lager beer FOOD QUALITY AND PREFERENCE. 68, 292-303
• YANG, Q and NG, M, 2017. Paired Comparison/Directional Difference Test/2-Alternative Forced Choice (2-AFC) test, Simple Difference Test/Same-Different Test. In: L. ROGERS, ed., Discrimination Testing in Sensory Science: A Practical Handbook
• YANG, Q, HOLLOWOOD, T and HORT, J, 2014. Phenotypic variation in oronasal perception and the relative effects of PROP and Thermal Taster Status Food Quality and Preference. 38, 83-91
• CHRISTINA DIETZ, QIAN YANG and REBECCA FORD, The impact of time standardising TCATA by modality data on the multisensory profile of beer Food Quality and Preference.