ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND CONTINUINGPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OBLIGATIONS

Art. 5 – Ordinary members

Among ordinary members, the professional members with entrance qualification and the non-professional members are distinguished.

• Non-professional ordinary members

The non-professional ordinary member category includes all individuals who could actively join the association and contribute with a proactive collaboration to fulfil the statute aims.

• Professional ordinary members

The professional ordinary member category includes all individuals who conduct their professional activity in the sensory field aimed to the provision of own services or work on behalf of a third party. This activity should be regularly or mainly practised by means of intellectual work, according to the articles presented in the present Regulation.

The Association certifies the following professional qualifications:

• Sensory Project Manager;
• Sensory Project Manager Junior.

Essential conditions to certify the titles are the compliance with the admission requirements and the continuing professional development obligations, as following described.

Art. 6 – Sensory Project Manager Senior – admission requirements

The professional figure of the Sensory Project Manager Senior (SPM) is responsible for the planning and the coordination of all activities connected to the sensory evaluations and result interpretation as well as for the specialized education, the design of interdisciplinary studies, the development of the investigation approaches and methodologies and the scientific dissemination in the sensory field.

In order to evaluate the admission, all the educational qualifications, specialized training and professional experience will be considered according to the following specifications.

Educational qualifications and training:

At the date of the application for the admission, the SPM must hold at least one of these titles:

• Two-year master’s degree/ Five-year master’s degree (continuous cycle) or equivalent title;
• Three-year bachelor’s degree;

For the study plans which did not include at least 3 university credits on sensory analysis courses within the AGR/15 scientific field category, it is necessary to demonstrate to have a specialized background on the sensory field by means of documented participation to training courses of a minimal duration of 30 hours, organized by the SISS or by other subjects with clear and attested competency in the sensory field.

For clear and attested competency, it is referred to the qualification of the teachers.  Qualification indexes of the teachers are the experience of university professorship in subjects related to the sensory analysis, scientific production in terms of publications available in the principal databases, scientific contributions at the principal conferences of the field accepted by scientific committee, the management of accredited sensory laboratories.

Alternatively, it is possible to take an examination of professional competence aimed to ascertain the basic knowledge, skills, and expertise in the sensory field. The examination will be annually organized by the SISS according to the modalities defined in the art. 8.

Professional experience

At the date of the application for the admission, the SPM candidate must provide documentary evidence of his/her acquired experience as following specified, of a minimal total duration of three or five years of prevalent and consecutive execution of the profession in the cases of the two-year master’s degree/five-year master’s degree (continuous cycle)/equivalent title and three-year bachelor’s degree, respectively.

For the admission evaluation, the attested experience will be considered according to the following specifications:

• experience in planning and the coordinating of all activities connected to the sensory evaluations;
• research experience in developing and applying sensory methodologies;
• experience of university professorship in subjects related to the sensory analysis or as teachers in training courses organized by subjects with clear and attested competency in the sensory field as above specified;
• scientific dissemination in the sensory field in terms of publications and contribution to the organization of conferences, workshops, and seminars.

A total of 30 university credits acquired exclusively by means of university courses and thesis projects related to the sensory field are equivalent to one year of professional experience.

Evidence of the educational and professional activity

The participation to training courses and the professional activities must be proved by means of certificates and written declarations signed by the authorities and/or companies in association with a clear definition of the research project, training programme, tasks and seniority. The activity of the private practice can be proved providing the invoices (even after deleting the fiscal data) and all documents suitable to demonstrate the conducted activities.

Research experience must be proved by providing evidences of PhD or master degree thesis projects on sensory topics,  scholarship or temporary research fellow related to research projects of the sensory field; by proving cooperation within research projects, during the planning/realization phases; by demonstrating participation to national and international conferences focussed on sensory science; by providing publications of articles on national and international journals available on the principal databases and books on sensory topics.

Art. 7 – Sensory Project Manager Junior – admission requirements

The Sensory Project Manager Junior (SPMJ) is the professional figure responsible for the planning and the supervision of all activities connected to the sensory evaluations. In particular, she/he is responsible for the selection, training and performance control of judges, execution of the experimental design of the evaluations, develop of the evaluation protocols, sample preparation, sensory data collection, statistical data analysis, result reporting.

In order to evaluate the admission to the association and to recognize the required quality professional standards, all the educational qualifications, specialized training and professional experiences will be considered according to the following specifications.

Educational qualifications and training

At the date of the application for the admission, the SPMJ must hold at least one of these titles:

• Two-year master’s degree/ Five-year master’s degree (continuous cycle) or equivalent title;
• Three-year bachelor’s degree;
• High school diploma.

For the study plans which did not include at least three university credits on sensory analysis courses within the AGR/15 category, it is necessary to demonstrate to have a specialized background on the sensory field. This education must be proved by means of documented participation to training courses of a minimal duration of 30 hours, organized by the SISS or by other subjects with clear and attested competency in the sensory field. For clear and attested competency, it is referred to the qualification of the teachers.  Qualification indexes of the teachers are the experience of university professorship in subjects related to the sensory analysis, scientific production in terms of publications available in the principal databases, scientific contributions at the principal conferences of the field accepted by scientific committee, the management of accredited sensory laboratories.

Alternatively, it is possible to take an examination of professional competence aimed to ascertain the basic knowledge, skills, and expertise in the sensory field. The examination will be annually organized by the SISS according to the modalities defined in the art. 8.

Professional experience

At the date of the application for the admission, the SPMJ must provide documentary evidence of his/her acquired experience of a minimal total duration of one, two or ten years in the cases of the two-year master’s degree/five-year master’s degree (continuous cycle)/equivalent, three-year bachelor’s degree and high school diploma titles, respectively. The following attested experience can be considered:

• experience in conducting sensory tests as panel leader, responsible for the preparation and management of the evaluations and results elaboration;
• research experience (master degree or PhD thesis, scholarship, temporary research fellow, cooperation in research projects) on the development and application of sensory methodologies.

A total of 30 university credits acquired exclusively by means of university courses and thesis projects related to the sensory field are equivalent to one year of professional experience.

Evidence of the educational and professional activity

The participation to training courses, scholarships, temporary research fellow and work activities must be proved by means of certificates and written declarations signed by the authorities and/or companies in association with a clear definition of the research project, training programme, tasks and seniority. The activity of the private practice can be proved providing the invoices (even after deleting the fiscal data) and all documents suitable to demonstrate the conducted activities.

Art. 8 – Type and subject of the examination of professional competence

The examination of professional competence consists of multiple-choice and/or open questions focused on basic knowledge related to the planning and conduction of the sensory evaluations as well as the results analysis.

Methods of completing the examination will be communicated in appropriate advance on the website and others informative channels of the association.

The responsible of the organization of the examination is the management board, which also elects a specific commission for the evaluation.

Art. 9 – Promotion of the permanent training

The association promotes the permanent training of its members, periodically organizing specific initiatives, such as training courses, seminars, workshops and conferences.

Art. 10 – Continuing professional development obligations

SPM and SPMJ are required to ensure their own professional expertise by continuously updating their own competencies.

In order to obtain the SISS attestation for the maintenance of the professional standards by means of a continuing professional development, according to the law 4/2013, in each solar year, each member has to certify to have participated to training and/or update events in the sensory field, according to the following specifications which are distinguished for the two considered professional figures.

The Sensory Project Manager is required:

• to attend at least one SISS professional update course or the SISS annual workshop or the SISS annual conference;

and at least one of the following activities:

• participation to the workshops or national conferences organized by the SISS (only if not already counted as activity to comply with the requirement reported in the previous point);
• participation to international conferences, such as the European Conference in Sensory and Consumer Research (Eurosense) and the Pangborn Sensory Symposium, or to workshops and conferences organized by the European Sensory Science Society or by the national associations which are its members;
• participation to professional update courses organized by the SISS (only if not already counted as activity to comply with the requirement reported in the previous point) or by other subjects with recognized competency in the sensory field, attested as described in the previous articles 6 and 7;
• presentation of scientific contributions (oral presentations and/or poster contributions) accepted by a scientific committee or invited lectures during national conferences organized by the SISS and international conferences organized by the European Sensory Science Society, the European Conference in Sensory and Consumer Research (Eurosense) and the Pangborn Sensory Symposium;
• publication of articles on national and international journals available on the principal databases, book chapters or books belonging to the sensory field.

The Sensory Project Manager Junior is required to attend at least one SISS professional update course or the SISS annual workshop or the SISS annual conference.

Art. 11 – Attestation system

In order to protect the users and guarantee the transparency in the professional services market, the association issues to its members, after the needed verifications and according to the law 4/2013, under the responsibility of its legal representative, an attestation related to the:

1. regular registration of the professional to the association;
2. requirements for the participation to the association;
3. qualitative standards and standards of professional qualification that the members are required to respect during the practice of their professional activity, in order to maintain their registration to the association;
4. guarantees provided by the association to the user, including the activation of the user support mentioned at the article 2, subparagraph 4 (law 4/2013).

The attestation request associated with the related documentation has to be presented at the management board according to the modalities reported on the website of the association.

The association authorizes its members to refer to the registration to SISS as a certificate of quality and professional qualification as Sensory Project Manager and Sensory Project Manager Junior, only in the case of compliance with the admission requirements and continuing professional development obligations defined in the articles 6, 7 and 10 of the present regulation, according to the articles 4, 7 and 8 of the law 10/2013, after the issue of the attestation by the management board.

Art. 12 – Attestation validity

The attestation issued by the association upon request of the member is valid for the period during which the professional results registered to the association and it is renewed at each renew of the registration itself for a corresponding period, prior compliance with the requirements of continuing professional development obligations defined in the present regulation. The deadline of the attestation is specified on the attestation itself.

The professional registered to the professional association who uses the attestation is obliged to provide the users with his/her registration number to the association.

In the case of behavior in contrast with the aims of the association or in the case of violation of the code of ethics and standards, the attestation can be withdrawn, upon resolution of the management board.