Ian studied Food Science at the University of Nottingham and completed a PhD on lipid delivery mechanisms and novel flavour encapsulation technologies. He moved to Kraft Foods to run their UK flavour chemistry group for two years and returned to the University of Nottingham as Associate Professor in Food Chemistry and Flavour Chemistry. In 2018 he was promoted to the position of Professor within the Division of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics. His research interests lie in flavour management (production through to consumption) and fundamental food chemistry to support novel processing technologies and commercial products.

Dr Ni Yang (Nicole) is the Assistant Professor in Flavour Science at the University of Nottingham and the laboratory Manager for Food and Feed Analysis Consultancy and Training Service. She has over 10-years’ experience in transferring and applying flavour science and technology to various industry and applications, including blue chip global food companies, and SMEs on a range of food products such as ice cream, biscuits, crisps and pet food.

Nicole's research interests are embedding flavour science from soil to health to understand how flavours are generated and affected by the plant and how different food processing and engineering would affect flavour formation and stability in the final product. Her current research includes tea and coffee flavour chemistry and trigeminal stimulus linking chilli/spicy sensations.  

Dr Louise Hewson joined the flavour group in Dec 2020 and supports a number of research projects currently running within the group. Louise is a Sensory & Consumer Research Scientist with over 15 years experience in the field, across both academia and the food industry. Her research interests include taste & flavour perception, oral processing, consumer behaviour & consumption context, multimodal interactions and novel/emerging methods, tools & technologies. 

Mui Lim (Sharon) is a Technical Specialist in our Food Analysis Consultancy and Training Service (FACTS). Having previously worked in flavour companies such as Givaudan and Frutarom as trainee flavourist & chemist, she brings with her extensive commercial flavour knowledge and analytical expertise. Sharon oversees the running of analytical equipment in the flavour laboratory including supervision for the experimental elements of research projects.

Dr Kateryna Dugina (Kate) is a food technology researcher with experience in innovative bakery, pasta and pastry product development, rheology, digestibility and bioavailability, food safety during production process and storage. She has worked on research projects focused on protein-protein and protein-polysaccharide interactions in bakery products, protein digestibility, development of gluten-free bread products with high protein content, law glycemic index and prolonged shelf-life.

Vlad completed his ESPRC funded Sustainable Chemistry PhD with the Food Flavour team. He then successfully secured the 2019 EPSRC Doctoral Prize - funding which is allowing him to continue his research into the biophysical effects of flavourings on biological molecules. His interests lie in the analysis and management of macromolecular interactions in a range of fast-moving consumer goods.

Michael has joined the Flavour Group as a KTP Associate with Hain Daniels, carrying out research into hydrocolloid gel systems and flavour release. He studied the formulation of edible hydrocolloid gels for 3D printing during his PhD at the School of Chemical Engineering in the University of Birmingham and before that, completed a Master of Pharmacy degree at UCL. 

Hebe studied thermal flavour generation in roasted barley malts for her PhD at the University of Nottingham. Following this, she worked in Research & Development at British American Tobacco and PepsiCo, delivering instrumental flavour analysis and leading recipe development trials. Hebe has now joined the Flavour Group at the University of Nottingham as a KTP (Knowledge Transfer) Associate with Warner’s Distillery.

Raj is working as a KTP Associate with Quality Kernels Ltd. Raj studied his PhD in Non-Thermal Processing techniques and flavour science at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His primary focus was on industrial applications such as post-harvest processing parameters, reducing nutritional loss and improving the flavour of different matrices. In the last 4 years, Raj has developed various new products in the plant based dairy alternative and meat alternative foods segment for companies in New Zealand and India.

Ali completed his PhD in Biosystems Engineering at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. His research assessed physical and chemical compounds in cocoa beans by non-destructive methods including NIR, HIS, chemometrics and machine learning. Ali joined the Flavour Group in July 2022 as a postdoctoral research fellow working on the project Ultra-rapid real-time diagnostic tool of plant disease/infection adapted for field deployment.

Nick is a flavour scientist based at the University of Adelaide, working with v2 Foods. Nick is a food scientist with over 15 years of experience as a product developer in the food industry. His current research includes understanding flavour and fat systems in plant based meats and how to increase flavour intensity and meatiness. He collaborates closely with the team here at Nottingham.

Ruchira is a Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide working in the International Flavour Research Centre, Adelaide. Her PhD at the University of Adelaide investigated a rapid method for authentication of Australian red wines using fluorescence spectroscopy and machine learning classification. Currently, she is involved in a flavour research project with plant-based meat products in collaboration with v2 foods, understanding the dynamics of different meat preparation methods vs plant-based products using advanced analytical techniques.

Jenny provides administrative support for the teaching, research and outreach work of the Flavour Group. She has co-ordinated several large scale conferences and manages the administrative side of our annual Food Flavour training course.