Adam is Professor of Music at Roehampton University. He has a career as a composer, performer, teacher and researcher, and works every week with a number of children with complex needs, including blindness, learning difficulties and autism. Adam has written a number of books, including ‘In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini’ (Hutchinson) and ‘Music for Children and Young People with Complex Needs’ (OUP). He lectures throughout the UK and abroad. Adam is secretary of the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (‘SEMPRE’), chair of Soundabout, an Oxfordshire-based charity that supports music provision for children and young people with complex needs; and founder of The AMBER Trust, a charity that supports visually impaired children in their pursuit of music.

He is currently leading four major research projects:

1. Sounds of Intent – investigating early musical development in children with severe, or profound multiple learning difficulties: a model, curriculum framework and interactive resources and assessment materials for teachers.
2. Focus on Music – investigating musical development in children with identified syndromes.
3. Fragments of Genius – exploring the skills of musical savants and the consequences for our understanding of learning, memory and creativity.
4. Music in Mind – investigating and modelling how musical structure and content relate to musical meaning.

The ‘Sounds of Intent’ research project was set up in 2002 jointly by the Institute of Education, Roehampton University, and the Royal National Institute of the Blind.