Ideally foods should be assessed directly by consumers. Largely because of logistic and financial considerations, it is only possible to evaluate small numbers of samples at a time and only in a rather cursory manner. Trained human assessors are used as the measuring instrument. Experience has shown that it is inappropriate to regard assessors as an identical set of measuring instruments. Recent work in sensory science has concentrated on finding methods of evaluating assessor performance and in developing appropriate methods of analysis which respect the differences between assessors.
Most sensory data receives only simple statistical analysis.
There is some preliminary information which suggests that the algorithm and the software implementation for some of these methods may require attention. BioSS has close links with Prof D D Muir of the Hannah Research Institute and with Dr J R Piggott of the University of Strathclyde. Sensory data is available from both these laboratories for development purposes. The student will be based in BioSS-Edinburgh and will be initially guided by Mr E A Hunter and will be registered with the Department of Modelling Science at Strathclyde University. Modelling individual differences between assessors in sensory evaluations.