Speaker

Jae-Hee Hong is Professor of Food and Nutrition at Seoul National University, Korea, where she leads the Sensory Science Laboratory. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Food and Nutrition from Ewha Womans University and her Ph.D. in Food Science from Virginia Tech, USA. Her research has been supported by competitive grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture and Forestry (IPET). Her work has appeared in international journals, including Food Quality and Preference, Food Research International, Journal of Sensory Studies, and Food Science and Biotechnology. She currently serves as an Editor of Food Science and Biotechnology.

Her research began with a fundamental question: why do consumers embrace some unfamiliar foods while rejecting others? This question led her to study sensory learning, repeated exposure, and cross-cultural food experiences as mechanisms underlying the acceptance of novel foods. Building on this work, her research expanded to explore how psychological and physiological states reshape sensory desire, food choice, and eating behavior. Her current research focuses on the sensory and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the stress-relieving effects of spicy foods. 

More recently, her research has expanded beyond immediate food liking to investigate the role of food appreciation in healthier eating and long-term mental well-being. Ultimately, she aims to uncover the mechanisms through which sensory experiences foster food appreciation and promote healthier food choices and long-term well-being by integrating sensory science, psychology, nutrition, and neuroscience.

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