Rebecca Ford

Associate Professor in Sensory and Consumer Science, leader of the Sensory and Consumer Science research group and Deputy Head of the Food, Nutrition and Dietetics Division (all at the University of Nottingham). Board member of the European Sensory Science Society (E3S)

Email: R.Ford@nottingham.ac.uk  

Dr Ford’s multidisciplinary research is focused on understanding multi-sensory flavour perception, phenotypic and genotypic variations in sensory perception. She also utilises digital technologies to explore consumer behaviour and sustainable diets.

Her previous research has investigated the impact of genetic and phenotypic variations on perception, cortical processing and food choice, allowing impactful research to explore effective sugar, fat and alcohol reduction strategies. Research utilising digital technologies has explored the use of Virtual Reality to create relevant food consumption contexts when investigating consumer behaviour.

Becki has experience consulting, advising and developing sensory capabilities for global food and beverage companies. Since her academic appointment in 2016, Becki has developed effective collaborations both internally - with Engineering, Computer Science, Life Sciences - and externally with research institutions (e.g. University of Adelaide, University of Florence) and enterprise (e.g. Unilever, Mondelez, AB InBev).