During the summer, Darcen was awarded a fellowship and invited to speak at the 13th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Darcen presented his research on the sensory science of wine, completed through UBCO with Dr. Donna Senese, that explored how one sense can become systematically associated with another sense, resulting in a cross-modal sensory association where our vision can impact the taste of wine. His research concluded that when wine drinkers identify with the visual cues on the label, the wine tastes better. Read more from Darcen’s thesis: The taste of a label : do visual sensory cues on a wine label impact the sensory taste of the wine?

Darcen was short-listed as one of the top eleven early career researchers and presented his topic to about 300 sensory professionals. The haggis, whiskey, and bagpipe performances provided an incredible experience and he is already looking forward to the next Sensory Science Symposium hosted by Vancouver in 2021.