Sonja is primarily a course and subject coordinator, lecturer and tutor in Wine, Climate Change Adaptation and Animal Science.
She has expertise in sensory science and human and canine olfactory systems.
Sonja is particularly interested in how the human olfactory is influenced not only by mechanical physiology but also, and most interestingly, by psychology. Colours, sounds and textures all influence the way we taste and smell and our abilities to recall different sensory pictures.
Sonja is currently the primary researcher for The University of Melbourne Detection Dog Projects. Using volunteer dog and handler teams as well as her own detection dogs to learn more about the capabilities of dogs as a detection tool. She is particularly interested in sensitivity and reliability and developing training methods which allow faster and more economical training of dogs in the detection field. To date she has completed several small projects with the aid of Animal Science research students. Completed projects include; using dogs for Eutypa in grapevines, Brettanomyces in wineries, invasive weeds and if detection dogs able to distinguish single component target odours when trained on odour mixtures.Sonja has also been involved in research assessing 'climate change related' future frost risk for important cultivars across Australia's growing regions incorporating the recovery responses of a range of wine grape cultivars to severe frost events. Increasing the strategic ability to react to impending frost events by improving our management of frost affected grapevines. Detection and quantification of several bacterial species which are active ice nucleators, by expressing an ice nucleation (IN) protein, catalysing freezing on plants at up to -1oC.
Other areas of research include Recovery responses of grapevine after a bushfire event.
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Sonja Needs' highlights
FEATURED Journal article
Development of technical wine assessment skills in tertiary students
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Scholarly Works
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Credentials
Positions
Tutor (Plant Phys & Viticulture)
Agriculture And Food
Member
Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology
Founding Member
Australian Conservation Dog Network
Canine Search Specialist
Southern Cross Search Dog Association
Education
Master of Agriculture (Research)
University of Melbourne
Certificate in Dog Behaviour: Problems and Solutions
Arizona State University
Certificate in Dog Perception and Cognition
Arizona State University
Certificate in Dog Cognition and Emotion
Duke University
Graduate Diploma in Primary Education
Charles Darwin University
Forensic Science
Murdoch University
Bachelor of Applied Science
La Trobe University