Applications are open for a Wine industry PhD Scholarship – E. & J. Gallo Winery: Predicting and Managing Mouthfeel in Red Wines through AI-guided Process Metrics.
Combining human senses, instrumental techniques, and artificial intelligence, this industry-engaged PhD project will use rapid sensory assessment methods along with a unique absorbance, transmittance and excitation-emission matrix (A-TEEM) technique and machine learning to model mouthfeel attributes based on chemical composition, in the development of objective metrics that permit the optimisation of mouthfeel specifications throughout the winemaking process. The novel approach will be supported by untargeted metabolite profiling with high-performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry to provide greater understanding of the chemical composition underpinning mouthfeel and the processes that drive desired characteristics.
The project will involve internships at E. & J. Gallo Winery in the United States that come with a generous allowance and travel funding. These internships will apply and refine the learnings from the project in an industry setting during the harvest period. This will require chemical and sensory analysis of must and wine samples, to correlate A-TEEM and other chemical data with mouthfeel and taste parameters using machine learning algorithms.
The ideal candidate will be a domestic student (i.e., Australian or NZ citizen or Australian permanent resident) possessing a high quality Honours or Masters degree in analytical chemistry or food chemistry who has an interest in spectroscopy, modern analytical instrumentation, data modelling, and beverage production. An expected commencement is February/March 2023.
For more information and to apply, visit: https://scholarships.adelaide.edu.au/Scholarships/postgraduate-research/faculty-of-sciences-engineering-and-technology-set/wine-industry