• Member since 6 December 1993
  • Regional Director 2009 - 2014
  • Society Secretary 2013 – 2014
  • 1986 -2000 Interwinery Analysis Group Statistical Secretary
  • 2010 - 2012 Chairperson, International Cool Climate Symposium Program Committee
  • 2014 Best research presentation, WIC Crush
  • 2014 AWRI Innovator of the year
  • 2015 ASVO Viticultural paper of the Year

Dr Bob Dambergs has an Honours Degree in Microbiology from the University of Adelaide and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Queensland. Bob held a Senior Research Scientist position at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, but returned to take up technical roles with BRL Hardy Wines at one of the largest Australian wineries, during a period of exponential growth of the Australian wine industry. Bob actively engaged in research while working with industry and through this research focus took up a role as Senior Research Scientist at AWRI. Bob was a founding member of the Spectroscopy Group at AWRI, working on the use of spectroscopy and chemometrics, techniques that have now become mainstream. The aim was to develop rapid analytical methods suitable for use by industry, including objective methods of assessing grape and wine quality. Bob was the manager of AWRI’s first external node, based at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, within the Agricultural Science faculty at the University of Tasmania. In this new role Bob was involved with research projects focussing on products for which Tasmania is well known - sparkling wines and Pinot Noir. Through the association with the University of Tasmania, Bob supervised many PhD students working on Viticulture and Oenology research projects and set up wine science laboratories in Hobart and Launceston. Although now based at AWRI in Adelaide, he maintains the link with research in Tasmania. Bob is also a commercial grape grower and has extensive experience in most aspects of the wine industry, ranging from the vineyard to the research laboratory. He has published over a 100 research papers and has spoken at many international conferences.