Carl Philpott: The Science of Smell Loss & the Future of Olfactory Research

Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Professor Charles Spence of Oxford University. In this interview, they discuss how the senses work together to enhance our experiences and the different research labs he runs. Professor Charles Spence is a world-famous experimental psychologist with aspecialization in neuroscience-inspired multisensory design. He has workedwith many of the world’s largest companies across the globe since establishingthe Crossmodal Research Laboratory (CRL) at the Department of ExperimentalPsychology, Oxford University in 1997. Prof. Spence has published over 1,250academic articles and edited or authored, 16 books including, in 2014, the Proseprize-winning “The perfect meal”, and the international bestseller“Gastrophysics: The new science of eating” (2017; Penguin Viking) – winner ofthe 2019 Le Grand Prix de la Culture Gastronomique from AcadémieInternationale de la Gastronomie. “Sensehacking” was published in 2021, and“Digital Dining”, with Prof. Carlos Velasco, in 2025.Much of Prof. Spence’s work focuses on the design of enhanced multisensoryfood and drink experiences, through collaborations with chefs, baristas,mixologists, chocolatiers, perfumiers, and the food and beverage, and flavourand fragrance industries. Prof. Spence has worked extensively in the world ofmultisensory experiential wine and coffee and has also worked extensively onthe question of how technology will transform our dining/drinking experiencesin the future.

Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Sam Wisniewski and Sarah Socia from OVR Technology. In this interview, they discuss the intersection of smell & gaming and how OVR's product is applicable across multiple genres of immersive gaming experiences. Sam Wisniewski is a Co-Founder and President at OVR Technology, where he works to bring scent into digital media and immersive experiences. His career spans investment banking, hospitality operations, and fragrance formulation, giving him a multidisciplinary perspective on business, sensory experience, and emerging technology.Before OVR, Wisniewski founded a boutique flavor and fragrance company developing products for food, beverage, and personal care brands. Today he leads operations, strategy, and commercialization efforts as OVR prepares to launch consumer scent technology that enables developers and creators to add smell to digital content.Sarah Socia is Director of Fragrance Innovation and R&D at OVR Technology, where she develops scent cartridges and olfactory delivery systems for immersive digital experiences. With a background spanning chemosensory research, fragrance development, and life sciences consulting, she brings a scientific perspective to how scent can be thoughtfully designed and applied within digital content, translating the science of smell into innovative scent technologies.Link to the kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/omara/the-omara-scent-display-for-gaming/commentsLink to Website: https://www.ovrtechnology.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ovromara/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ovromaraTwitter: https://x.com/OVROmara

Join Sight and Emerging Tech Expert Samantha Wolfe as she interviews Jeremy Dalton, Founder of XRHQ.com. In this interview, they discuss Jeremy's background, how it lead to him creating his own company, and the evolution of XR technology. Jeremy Dalton leads XRHQ.com, a free intelligence platform for XR professionals, tracking real applications of immersive technologies as they go live across every industry worldwide.Previously, he established PwC's global immersive technologies practice, leading over 150 projects across 50 countries. He has co-authored research published at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), and his insights have been cited by the World Economic Forum, Citigroup, and The Economist.Jeremy is an international speaker and author of Reality Check: How VR and AR Can Supercharge Your Business, translated into Chinese, German, and Korean. He currently advises venture capital firm FOV Ventures on AI, robotics, and spatial computing investments.

Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Carl Philpott, Professor of Rhinology and Olfactology. In this interview, they discuss smell research and funding in the UK and how it is applicable to studies done in the US.  Professor Philpott leads the research group based at UEA with a team of academic trainees and collaborators as well as links to national and international colleagues and units. He leads the MACRO Programme Grant and is President of the British Otorhinolaryngology & Allied Sciences Research Society. A full biography is available on the UEA website. Research details can also be found on his ResearchGate profile, and he also has a UEA Experts profile page, and a profile page on Top Doctors. 

Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Brian Goeltzenleuchter, interdisciplinary artist. In this interview, they discuss how Brian utilizes scent to influence the experience of art and his future innovations. Brian Goeltzenleuchter is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of olfactory art, social engagement, and image making. Goeltzenleuchter is widely recognized as a leading figure in the field of olfactory art. His art and writing treat air as an artistic medium and breathing as a vehicle for aesthetic and critical contemplation. His socially engaged projects investigate themes of identity, ecology, and the boundaries between humans, institutions, and the natural world. His practice has been recognized for its contributions to the emerging fields of olfactory art and socially engaged art, and it has been discussed within art criticism, philosophy, disability studies, and environmental studies. He is the Darlene Shiley Honors Faculty Fellow in the Weber Honors College, and Research Fellow at the Institute for Public and Urban Affairs, San Diego State University.

Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Leslie Kay, professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and member and former director of the University’s Institute for Mind and Biology. In this interview, they discuss Leslie's research in olfaction primarily with rats and how it has evolved over her career.Leslie Kay is a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and a member and former director of the University’s Institute for Mind and Biology. Her research addresses the roles that personal history, present context, breath, and chemistry play in shaping dynamic responses in brains and behavior centered around the sense of smell. Her laboratory focuses on brain dynamics through neural oscillations that engage olfaction, taste, memory and respiratory systems. New work from her laboratory also examines sex differences in olfactory physiology and behavior. While she primarily uses rats as a model system, she is now collaborating with colleagues to address neural questions in human olfaction and cognitive health. Dr. Kay has served on numerous advisory boards for the NIH, NSF and AChemS. She comes to the sense of smell with a background in Philosophy and Mathematics from St. John’s College (Santa Fe, NM) and a PhD in Biophysics from UC Berkeley. She is a fierce advocate for liberal education and reading real books. At the University of Chicago, she also serves as Deputy Dean for Research in the Social Sciences. She is working on a popular book on smell under contract with Basic Books and Penguin UK (expected publication late 2027).

Join Sight and Emerging Tech Expert Samantha Wolfe as she interviews Marianna Obrist, Professor of Multisensory Interfaces at University College London. In this interview, they discuss the intersection of the five senses and how this impacts Marianna's ventures.Marianna Obrist is Professor of Multisensory Interfaces at University College London (UCL), where she pioneers research on touch, taste, and smell in human-computer interaction (HCI), with applications in virtual reality, healthcare, and wellbeing. Some of her recent projects include the EPSRC/NIHR Smell Care initiative on digital smell training, the EU FET Touchless.AI project on social interaction through contactless touch, and the UKRI Textile Circularity Centre on immersive textile experiences. Marianna is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Hynt Labs Limited, a spin-out developing digital scent technologies for personalised sleep solutions. She has authored over 100 publications in leading journals and conferences and co-wrote Multisensory Experiences: Where the Senses Meet Technology (Oxford University Press).

Join Hearing Expert Tyler Heaton as he interviews Miles Spencer. In this interview, they discuss Miles' long history of entrepreneurship and his current venture integrating AI with historical sound archives. Miles Spencer is a curious Pittsburgh native who has asked a lot of questions—and followed them a long way from home. For more than 30 years, he has mentored tech founders, discovering along the way that guiding ambitious entrepreneurs isn’t all that different from raising his own kids, whom he has been parenting for 11 years.His career spans the creation of more than 1,100 jobs through founding, financing, building, and exiting three digital media companies. Before that, he served as a Venture Principal at Capital Express (register.com), hosted MoneyHunt on PBS before the era of Shark Tank, and once led over 1,500 people across 14 miles of open sea by kayak. He also trekked 1,100 miles through the deserts of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria—an expedition chronicled in A Line in the Sand, which went on to become an Amazon bestseller in the Middle East.Following a pandemic-era reset, Miles is now actively investing and directly managing teams across digital media, entertainment, and consumer products. Outside of work, he can often be found painting watercolors with his daughter or playing rugby with his son.And, as his friends often note, his distinctive brand of English sometimes requires translation—but it’s all part of the adventure.

Join Sight and  Emerging Tech Expert Samantha Wolfe as she interviews Dr. Andy Hines, Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the University of Houston’s Graduate Program. In this interview, they discuss the past, present, and future of innovation and how it connects to higher education. Dr. Andy Hines is Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Foresight and is also speaking, workshopping, and consulting through his firm Hinesight. His 30+ years of professional futurist experience includes a decade’s experience working inside first the Kellogg Company and later Dow Chemical, and consulting work with Coates & Jarratt,Inc. and Social Technologies/Innovaro. His most recent book (just released) is Imagining After Capitalism. Other books are The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies 2020, Thinking about the Future (2nd edition), Teaching about the Future, ConsumerShift: How Changing Values Are Reshaping the Consumer Landscape, 2025: Science and Technology Reshapes US and Global Society. His dissertation was “The Role of an Organizational Futurist in Integrating Foresight into Organizations.” He was Founding Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists.

Join Sight and  Emerging Tech Expert Samantha Wolfe as she interviews Sohail Inayatullah, UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies. In this interview, they discuss how to predict the future, Sohail's classes in future studies, and how they connect to Samantha's teachings at NYU. Sohail Inayatullah, a political scientist and futurist, is the UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity. Malaysia. He is also Professor at Tamkang University, Tamsui and Associate, Melbourne Business School, the University of Melbourne. Previously, he was adjunct professor at the Centre for Policing, Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence at Macquarie University, Sydney. He is listed in the top two percent of the world's scientists as measured by the highest impact of citations.