‘How do You Describe What Smell There is, Sort of?’: Learning to Sense Like a Professional in Biomedical Laboratory Training

Abstract This article examines the role of sensorial practice, particularly olfaction, in professional learning for biomedical laboratory sciences. Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA) and video recordings from a three-day microbiology laboratory exercise focused on the culture and identification of urinary tract infection samples, we analyse how students collaboratively make sensory engagement consequential for their learning. Our analysis demonstrates a spectrum of practices through which smelling is professionalized: exploring correct procedures, aligning affective responses, and stabilizing fleeting sensory experiences in written records. A key resource in this process is the use of everyday cultural references, which anchor elusive odours in a shared repertoire and facilitate intersubjective alignment. These references move from candidate descriptors to ratified categories, documented in institutional records. By scrutinising the ways olfactory sensing is transformed from embodied impressions into stable, communicable, and accountable judgments, we extend prior work on tasting sessions and other artisanal practices to the biomedical laboratory, a site where objectivity is often assumed to rest on instruments rather than senses. In this setting, smelling is a multimodal, socially organized achievement, fundamental to the development of professional judgment in laboratory science.