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Virtual / Transnational Infrastructures 

Virtual / Transnational Infrastructures

COMFOCUS will provide transnational and virtual access to key research infrastructures that will strengthen the multi-disciplinarily within the field on the basis of shared data infrastructures that can be jointly worked on from different disciplinary perspectives. Thanks to the transnational access, more advanced research installations (available at limited number of research infrastructures only) will enjoy broader adoption in use, thereby strengthening the field beyond its current reliance on self-report measures.

The consortium comprises 10 European key infrastructures, distributed widely across Europe:

The aim of CDP to ensure a coherent and sustainable data and knowledge infrastructure on the domain of consumer behaviour to advance data-driven relations between consumer behaviour, food, nutrition and health. The CDP infrastructure ensures to link harmonised data from consumer and citizens for interlinking, to apply data fusion and improve data science.

The CDP offers separate tools to search for measures of consumer performance to serve the researcher to harmonise datasets, to create aligned data models and ontologies. Measures taken: self-reported measures, as socio-demographics, psychophysiological and emerging measures from other technologies to foster monitoring food consumer behaviour research

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COBElab aims to measure behaviour using emerging technologies for collection of consumer data. It offers a place to conduct controlled experiments with consumer participants. Experiments in lab typically involve activities such as eye tracking, decision tasks, and basic, interactive games. The ultimate goal is to explore the choices people make and how they think and perceive stimuli in their environment.

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The chair of “Marketing for Food and Agricultural Products” at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the University of Goettingen focuses on consumer behavior, sustainability management, animal welfare and supply chain management in Agribusiness. The chair has the mission to empower sustainable food systems and to face the change. Consumer behaviour can be measured and analysed with various devices and a special focus on real-world environments. The infrastructure is well known for their use of innovative research methodologies, such as Eye-Tracking, fNIRS, VR, but also sensory research to analyze consumer behavior. This allows studying consumer perception of food products, labels, innovations and various other stimuli.

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CONBELAB has a variety of technologies available to perform explicit and implicit behavioural measurements using direct (self-reported) and indirect (physiological sensors) techniques. By using own and external consumer databases, CONBELAB can organise and perform different studies all around Spain, from those more visceral to those more rational, in real and virtual scenarios. Physiological measurements: the laboratory is based on the iMotions CORE and Tobii Pro Lab-Full Edition software, including modules for electroencephalography (EEG), screen based eye tracking, and computer- based facial expression analysis. Design and implementation of virtual tours and scenarios is possible for different contextual assessments at various immersive levels.

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MCBCC offers a variety of excellent research facilities to study food consumer behaviour by emerging technologies for collection of consumer data, applying measurements and measure building procedures according to best practices. The aims of many experiments conducted deal with healthy and sustainable food consumption. Simulated environments are used to conduct consumer research to systematically and/or experimentally study the role of environmental stimuli in a controlled setting. Besides MCBCC uses consumer physiological sensors aiming to capture affective states, motivations and preferences that consumers are not well able to verbalize, for example because it is socially undesirable or because people are not aware of them.

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The CEEL represents an multidisciplinary research hub at UNITN, involving scientific competences from economics, cognitive psychology, consumer and marketing research. The ultimate aim of research conducted in CEEL is to advance the understanding of how human cognition affects economic behaviour, including food-purchasing decisions. The CEEL is a well-established centre for research in experimental economics and consumer behaviour. At CEEL physiological measures are collected that are related to consumer behaviour such as skin response measures

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LCS aims to support fundamental as well as applied research, by linking disciplines and using advanced methodological technologies. Studies are designed based on previous research, experience, but also in consultation with experts in various fields (such as neurologists, psychologists, and IT specialists). The process of data acquisition and processing is governed by international standards ESOMAR 2019, ethical code NMSBA (Neuromarketing Science and Business Association) as well as its own internal guidelines.

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PRI is the state-of-the-art lab within the School of Psychology, University of Surrey, which encompasses hardware and software to enable content creation for virtual reality. Facilities for simulation and research using virtual reality technologies include development hardware, software and four dedicated lab spaces, two of which can be joined by a collapsible wall creating one large open space. There are also a variety of eye-tracking devices, both static, movable and mobile (glasses-based), as well as facilities that allow recording of physiological data such as galvanic skin response, heart rate and electroencephalography

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FARE aims to offer emerging technologies for collection of consumer data and services for on-site and on-field research, data collection and elaboration. In particular, mobile workstations can be used for data collection wherever the researchers need to move to reach participants and/or to implement experiments. The FARE has its own venue, a dedicated laboratory with a fixed desktop workstation for data storage, management and elaboration; this is located in proximity of the FICO food park, making it easy to move the mobile workstations there

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Flavoria is a research platform for producing new scientific knowledge and consumer understanding for the sustainable development of the society and businesses. It is a living lab for researching genuine consumer experiences, and is a truly multidisciplinary platform, because so far five faculties of UTU (Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, Turku School of Economics) and Brahea Center are member and partners at Flavoria. Its mission is to examine people’s genuine experiences and choices with the newest influencing and monitoring technology. Flavoria® research platform is designed for studying the human (consumer)- food interaction and food related experiences. There are three experience contexts: a lunch restaurant (with 1000 daily customers), a café and snack shelf, and a multisensory space Aistikattila.

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