Mango Parker

Mango Parker is an ARC Industry Fellow and Senior Research Scientist at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI), affiliated with the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide. Their research focuses on wine chemistry, addressing industry challenges such as smoke taint, glycosides, and flavor development.

Research interests include decoding airborne volatiles from environmental smoke, glycoside flavor release mechanisms, and enhancing low-alcohol wine quality. Parker bridges scientific innovation with practical winemaking solutions, collaborating with industry stakeholders.

Notable contributions include pioneering work on smoke taint (7 peer-reviewed papers, 2023 award-winning paper) and flavor science (2019 Manfred Rothe Gold Prize). They lead projects funded by ARC, Wine Australia, and collaborative grants with the University of Adelaide.

• Supervising 3 PhD students on topics like air quality forecasting and glycosyltransferase transcription
• Collaborated on science communication initiatives, including BBC podcasts and art-science projects with Liz Willing and Max Savage

Family ties to the wine industry (Backbeat Wines and Vinify) inform their industry-focused research ethos.