Rate My Professor Sam Heenan

Dr. Sam Heenan is the Senior Research Advisory Manager in the Research & Enterprise office at the University of Otago. He earned his BSc with first-class honours in Food Science from the University of Otago in 2004 and completed his PhD in Food Sensory Science at the same institution from 2005 to 2008. Earlier in his career, Heenan was actively involved in the Department of Food Science within the Division of Sciences, contributing to research on sensory characteristics of food products. His work focused on consumer responses to food attributes such as sweetness, odour, flavour, and freshness assessment. Heenan has highlighted the role of sensory testing in identifying differences between food products, guiding ingredient selection, processing methods, and predicting consumer acceptability.

Heenan's research output includes co-authorship on the 2005 publication 'Evaluation of sweet potato cultivars and their starches for potential value-added uses' in the Journal of Food Quality (Ridley, S.C., Lim, M., Heenan, S.A.M., Bremer, P.). Additional contributions appear in studies on flavour release dynamics using PTR-TOF-MS technology in cereal bars with varying sugar compositions (Heenan, S., et al.) and microbially induced changes in volatile constituents of fresh chilled pasteurised milk (Silcock, P., Alothman, M., Zardin, E., Heenan, S., et al.). He served as an advisor and supervisor for postgraduate theses, including a 2012 Master of Science thesis on detecting faecal contamination sources in waterways using molecular methods (Reid, H.M.E.) and a 2014 Doctor of Philosophy thesis on production of vinegar from Omani dates (AlShoaily, K.). In June 2011, Dr. Heenan, representing Food Sciences at the University of Otago, presented an exhibition talk on the anatomy of the human olfactory system. He joined the Research & Enterprise office in December 2021, where he holds a senior leadership role supporting research advisory services across the university.