Lisa Newman

Dr Lisa Newman is a Senior Lecturer in Sensory and Consumers Sciences and Nutrition at RMIT University, where she has been since 2017. She specialises in sensory and consumer science with a particular emphasis on our senses and how they influence dietary behaviours, enjoyment of food and appetite.

Her research primarily investigates how taste and smell influence the enjoyment of eating and how this determines people’s dietary patterns, intakes, and preferences, specifically amongst people with heightened or reduced sensory outputs. This includes children who are fussy eaters and those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the elderly, people in space etc. These people often face feeding challenges linked to sensory impairments or environmental conditions, and Dr Newman's work aims to understand how these sensory factors influence food selection, mealtime behaviours, diet quality, and long-term health.

Dr Newman's current research centres on the dietary patterns and overall nutrition and health of children who are fussy eaters. Passionate about understanding sustainable food behaviours, Dr Newman and her team develop innovative approaches to introduce individuals to new sustainable foods, even those with challenging textures. This includes exploring food interactions during playtime, looking at both parent-child interactions and child-educator engagement through "Sensory Play" with food, and validating digital simulations like augmenting reality when experiencing food.

In the space of Learning and Teaching, Dr Newman has received internal accolades within the STEM College and the School of Science at RMIT University. Her research addresses real-world challenges by exploring the complexities of sensory perception, particularly in environments with reduced sensory inputs, such as children and people with ASD, older adults or people in space, and brings this knowledge into the classroom for RMIT students.

Dr Newman has been featured in various media outlets both nationally and internationally, including tv, radio, notable newspapers and field related websites, blog and newsletters such as ABC News Radio, Triple RRR, Herald Sun, Australian Space Agency, Channel 9 News and Space Connect.