Research

At present, very little is known about owners’ decisions to feed their dogs raw meat-based diets beyond nutrition and health perspectives. This project aims to capture an in-depth understanding of the social aspects around raw feeding. The primary aim is to better understand the values, practices and ethics of dog owners who feed raw meat-based diets, while themselves eating a plant-based diet. This project is being undertaken by PhD student researcher Natalia Ciecierska-Holmes (University of Adelaide/University of Nottingham) as well as Principal Investigator Professor Rachel Ankeny (University of Adelaide) and supervisors Dr Michelle Phillipov (University of Adelaide), Dr Pru Hobson-West (University of Nottingham) and Professor Kate Millar (University of Nottingham).

Food sensory studies are usually run in neutral booths or in real consumption contexts. The evolution of immersive technologies, such as Virtual Reality, has introduced novel ways to combine scientific control with realistic consumption experiences. This project aims to create virtual experiences optimised for strengthening consumer connections with food, in particular wine, and to refine virtual sensory study approaches. This project is being undertaken by PhD student researcher Imogen Barker (University of Adelaide/University of Nottingham) as well as supervisors Professor Rachel Ankeny (University of Adelaide), Dr Susan Bastian (University of Adelaide), Dr Qian Yang (University of Nottingham), Dr Martin Flintham (University of Nottingham) and Dr Rebecca Ford (University of Nottingham) with sponsorship support from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and Campden BRI UK.