Rate My Professor Stephanie Then

Stephanie Then serves as an Assistant Research Fellow in the Product Development Research Centre (PDRC) of the Department of Food Science at the University of Otago. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Nutrition and her Bachelor of Consumer and Applied Science degree in Food Science from the University of Otago, completing the latter in 2001. With specialized expertise in sensory analysis, she focuses on the research and development of food products. Her work involves applying descriptive analysis methods through trained sensory panels to assess product quality and various sensory variables, as well as conducting consumer trials to gauge acceptability and preference for different food products.

Stephanie Then is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology. Her research interests encompass fruit quality, post-harvest technology, food quality and safety, food science and technology, sensory analysis and evaluation, food processing, the food industry, and food production. Within the PDRC, she supports industry partners through services in sensory science, flavour science, product quality evaluation, food safety assessments, shelf-life studies, troubleshooting, and analytical services. Her scholarly contributions include co-authorship on publications such as "Determination of the similarity between gonads recovered from single sea urchins (Evechinus chloroticus) compared to the similarity of gonads recovered from different urchins" (2012), "Effect of manufactured diets on the yield, biochemical composition and sensory quality of Evechinus chloroticus sea urchin gonads" (2010), and "An Interdisciplinary Approach to Improving Sea Urchin Roe and Developing a High Value Export Market" (2006). Additionally, she has contributed to research on the effects of pulsed electric fields pre-treatment on the volatile profile of cold-pressed strawberry juice (2021). These works have garnered over 60 citations, reflecting her contributions to food science and sensory evaluation.