The newly appointed Director of the National Wine & Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, Dr Thomas Henick-Kling, says he wants to enhance the recognition of the NWGIC as a national and international leader in grape and wine quality research. Dr Henick-Kling is a wine microbiologist with commercial and experimental winemaking experience in Germany and Australia. He also headed the wine research and extension program at Cornell University in New York State, USA, for 20 years. Other aims include improving collaborations with other research groups from Australia and overseas, and increasing CSU’s research capacity in wine flavour chemistry and wine microbiology. According to Dr Henick-Kling, “Together with our industry and research partners, the NWGIC will develop the knowledge and train the workforce that the Australian wine industry will need to continue its success into the next 50 years”.