Sampling — Theory of Sampling (TOS)

TOS has critical significance for all of science, technology and industry where reliable sampling is on the agenda. ACABS ranks high among world leaders regarding the didactics and teaching of representative sampling, stemming from 1999 when Prof. Esbensen met with Pierre Gy, the founder of the science and technology of representative sampling. Gy’s Theory of Sampling (TOS) and ACABS' main thrust takes its point of departure in the fact that sampling errors (primary sampling, secondary mass-reduction, analytical sub-sampling and handling) typically are of a magnitude of 50-100 times larger than the specific analytical error. Representative sampling is therefore often the critical determinant for valid chemical analysis and chemometric data analysis.

After more than 50 years since TOS’ first formulation, this insight is still to a large extent unknown to analytical chemistry — and to data analytical communities, while TOS is used extensively in many industry sectors. This is both the reason as well as the major arena for ACABS' work, today in close collaboration with Francis Pitard and Dominique Francois-Bongarcon. ACABS provides numerous possibilities for students to participate in practical projects within the area of industrial sampling. There are several collaboration projects with a range of process industry sectors. ACABS currently has two Ph.D.’s within this arena.