I’m a current MRes and future PhD student. My main interests lie in flavour perception and sensory science related to food and beverages. I have a number of years of practical experience working in alcohol production and qualifications in the industry including a BSc Viticulture and Oenology and an MSc Brewing and Distilling. I’ve been in Edinburgh for 4 years developing my whisky tasting skills and am interested in furthering research in this field.
My current project is titled ‘The Effects of Ethanol on the Flavour of Whisky’. Flavour is a psychological concept and so I’m working in conjunction with the psychology department of Napier and the an industry partner The Scotch Whisky Research Institute. The effects of ethanol concentration on the flavour perception of alcoholic beverages is a little explored topic and there is currently no work of this kind published on whisky and very little understood on the subject. The MRes has opened up further lines of investigation that have warranted us continuing the research subject into a PhD which will commence in October 2022. I’m presenting at some upcoming international conferences this year and look forwards to contributing published work in this field over the next few years.
Supervisor: Duncan Carmichael