Overview

Join the Centre of Excellence in Transformative Agribusiness for their next event, exploring how cutting-edge consumer research is reshaping our understanding of food choice, perception, and sustainability.

This event brings together two complementary seminars that move beyond traditional self-reported surveys to uncover what really drives consumer preferences. Using advanced neuroimaging techniques, including functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), researchers are now able to observe neural activation patterns associated with liking, decision-making, and emotional response to food products. These insights offer a more nuanced and reliable view of consumer behaviour, opening new possibilities for smarter food design and product development.

Alongside this, the seminars present emerging evidence on the “sustainability gap” — the disconnect between consumers’ intentions and their actual understanding of sustainability. Research shows that consumers often misjudge key sustainability cues such as food packaging and product origin, with important implications for how sustainability claims are interpreted, trusted, and acted upon.

Together, these seminars highlight how state-of-the-art consumer science can support more effective communication, better-aligned sustainability strategies, and informed decision-making across the agribusiness value chain. This event will be of interest to researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers seeking to better align innovation, sustainability, and consumer expectations in the future food system.