Dr Conor Delahunty

Dr Conor Delahunty

Dr Conor Delahunty has recently joined the Food Futures Flagship's team in the position of Science Manager, Food Quality, Measurement and Perception based at Food Science Australia. He will lead research areas in analytical chemistry, flavour science, and sensory and consumer Science. 

Dr Delahunty was previously Senior Lecturer and Director of the Sensory Science Research Centre at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Prior to this he was Principal Investigator of Sensory Science Research at University College Cork, Ireland.

He received his BAgrSc and MSc in food science at University College Dublin, Ireland, and his PhD in flavour and sensory science at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland.

Dr Delahunty is known for his research with dairy products, in particular that with cheese flavour and the sensory properties of cheese. He has also made significant contributions to the development of flavour science, sensory and consumer science methodology. In the sensory and consumer science area, he has worked extensively with descriptive analysis and preference mapping techniques, with many different product types. In the flavour science area he is best known for his contributions to the study of volatile compound release and perception, particularly in mouth, and for research concerning real-time and rapid measurement of volatile composition and release for food quality applications. He has also worked with gas chromatography-olfactometry, in both method development and in applications.

More recently Dr Delahunty was co-ordinator of the EU 5^th Framework project Healthy Ageing: How Changes in Sensory Physiology, Sensory Psychology and Socio-Cognitive Factors Influence Food. This was a shared cost project that involved 24 different research centres, who in collaboration studied losses of sensory ability that accompany ageing, and the effects of these losses on food choice. At the University of Otago, Dr Delahunty collaborated closely with colleagues in Nutritional Sciences, with a view towards understanding infants and toddlers eating habits, and towards understanding acceptance of fruits in diet, and compliance with dietary advice to consume nuts.

In addition to his research activities, Dr Delahunty has developed and taught sensory and consumer science courses to undergraduate students at both University College Cork, and at the University of Otago, and he has supervised the research of numerous MSc and PhD students.

Dr Delahunty has authored more than 80 full-length papers.
 

The Food Futures Flagship is a CSIRO initiative and part of the National Research Flagships program that aims to deliver scientific solutions to advance Australia's most important national objectives. One of the largest scientific initiatives ever mounted in Australia, it aligns closely with the Federal Government's National Research Priorities. The initiative brings together our national research resources to deliver breakthroughs in fields ranging from healthcare to light metals and the environment.

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