“…Experimental system design and statistical modelling approaches that account for these sources of variability are a significantly underdeveloped aspect of the nanocellulose research field ( Ramakrishna et al, 2019 ). Statistical approaches are most commonly utilised in nanocellulose research for process optimisation ( Rojsitthisak et al, 2017 ; Rodrigues et al, 2019 ; Baruah et al, 2020 ; Hisham et al, 2020 ; Nardi et al, 2020 ; Mairpady et al, 2021 ; Lim et al, 2022 ; Prabu et al, 2022 ; Soleimanzadeh et al, 2022 ; Zubair et al, 2022 ), property evaluation ( Chinga-Carrasco, 2013 ; Lin et al, 2014 ; Desmaisons et al, 2017 ; Kriechbaum et al, 2018 ; Schenker et al, 2018 ; Motohashi and Hanasaki, 2019 ; Espinosa et al, 2020 ; de Carvalho Benini et al, 2021 ; Sankhla et al, 2021 ), predictive modelling ( Hayes, 2012 ; García-Gonzalo et al, 2016 ; Lengowski et al, 2016 ; Ramachandran et al, 2017 ; Malucelli et al, 2018 ; Gao et al, 2019 ; Ferdous et al, 2021 ; Demir et al, 2022 ), and fibre morphology estimation ( Postek et al, 2011 ; Legland and Beaugrand, 2013 ; Aguado et al, 2016 ; Arcari et al, 2019 ; Ang et al, 2020 ; Campano et al, 2020 ; Uetani et al, 2021 ). However, statistical approaches also have the potential to be employed in alternative and creative ways.…”