Adam is committed to embedding the principles of inclusive education at the University of Manchester. At the programme level, he is leading the implementation of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) action plan on the Clinical Psychology doctorate, to break down the barriers to access and participation for aspiring psychologists from underrepresented backgrounds.
At the faculty and university level, Adam is supporting colleagues to understand and address the structural and systemic factors that contribute to awarding gaps. He is leading the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH) drive on tackling racism and working with the University’s Institute of Teaching and Learning (UMITL) to create a culture wherein all students can find their place in things and thrive.
Co-creating solutions to educational inequity is integral to Adam’s approach. Adam is enabling and learning all the time through such partnership, having worked with students to develop a successful wellbeing initiative, pedagogic programme and anti-racist training. Adam is an authority on the application of attachment theory to mental health. Recently his teaching and pedagogic research has focused on helping healthcare practitioners and university staff to deal with the challenges of the work, including the provocations of vulnerability and inter-cultural practice. In equipping those with such responsibilities to overcome avoidance, Adam has enabled the difficult work – including within ourselves – that is essential to improving both patient care and student outcomes.
This approach is exemplified in the Higher Education Anti-Racism Training (HEART) Adam leads, which asks university teachers across the organisation to commit to a year-long programme of experiential learning underpinned by group analytic principles. HEART enables productive conversations about race and racism without shying away from addressing the power differentials that inflect every group. The diversity and seniority of those involved means the learning is cascaded, and Adam collaborates with a health psychologist to help participants turn their developing awareness into actions.
Apart from his University roles, Adam is a trained Clinical Psychologist and Psychodynamic Psychotherapist. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, and loves being involved in teaching the next generation of practitioners and academics.