Themes and Keywords

The topic of the 2026 conference is 'A Sense of Impact’. Submissions should highlight the impact of the research on societal or industrial issues at the light of the SDG2030 (“for people, planet and prosperity”).

Topics to be covered include:

Fundamentals of sensory perception
Appearance, sound, odour, flavour, taste texture, chemosensory perception, phenotypes and genotypes, psychophysics, factors affecting individual differences in sensory responses.

Sensory science for health & wellbeing
Sensory physiology and psychology linked to health and wellbeing; product choices; food personalization; communication to consumers; labelling, vulnerable populations (e.g. children, older consumers, patients)

Sensory & consumer drivers of sustainability
Sensory drivers of sustainable diets; sensory aspects of new ingredients, materials and technologies; sensory and consumers’ perception towards food waste reduction; responsible consumption; cognitive, affective, and social drivers of sustainable choices.

Diversity perspectives in sensory & consumer sciences
Individual differences in sensory perception and consumer behaviour; cross cultural and intra-cultural perspectives; ethnicity, food culture & behaviour; food choices in low-income populations; gender perspectives; non-WEIRD populations.

The meal experience in context
Sensory and culinary; food-food and food-drink interactions; in-context research (restaurants, canteens, catering, in-travel, at-home); external environments and sensory science; social context.

Applied sensory & consumer science
Industrial applications in food and non-food products; product development; market research; consumer research, and more.

Disruptive technologies, AI & consumer-driven innovation
New and disruptive technologies and the future of digital sensory & consumer science (e.g. AI, chatbots, VR, XR); sensory & consumer-driven innovation and design; co-creation; citizen science & consumer involvement; living labs.

Sensometrics and new data science opportunities
New methods for data analysis; data science applied to sensory and consumer data; use of AI in data analyses.

Increasing the impact of sensory and consumer science
Sensory knowledge transfer; sensory education and training; internal and external communication of sensory & consumer results; influencing policies through sensory & consumer science.