Marlize Bekker
Dr Marlize Bekker is a Senior Lecturer in Food Chemistry in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at The University of Queensland. She holds a PhD in Chemistry and has over fifteen years of experience in flavour and aroma chemistry across complex food and beverage systems. Her research focuses on how post-harvest processing and fermentation conditions shape flavour development, with current work spanning vanilla, coffee, cacao, wine, and distilled beverages. This includes elucidating the formation, fate, and sensory function of key volatile and non-volatile flavour constituents, and establishing mechanistic links between processing parameters, chemical composition, and sensory outcomes.
She also leads research on the chemical and sensory characterisation of Australian native plant materials and supports the development of high-value, culturally grounded food and beverage products in partnership with Indigenous communities. Her analytical expertise lies in advanced chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques for targeted and untargeted flavour profiling, integrated with sensory and consumer evaluation approaches.
Abstracts this author is presenting: