معرفی
Dr Robert Adam serves as an Honorary Lecturer in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at University College London, where he coordinates Continuing Professional Development at the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL). A Deaf native British Sign Language (BSL) signer, he directs academic modules including the MSc course Deafhood and MA modules on interpreting theory, while teaching BSL courses for medical students and linguistics programs.
His educational background includes a Master of Arts from Monash University (2005), and dual Bachelor degrees in Arts and Education from La Trobe University (1997, 1992). Prior to UCL, he coordinated sign language teaching at London's City Lit and conducted research at Australia's National Institute for Deaf Studies and the Australian Sign Language Lexicography Project.
Adam's research centers on sign language sociolinguistics, particularly unimodal bilingualism in Deaf communities using multiple sign languages. His work examines mental health disparities among Deaf adults, language contact phenomena, and interpreter-deaf professional relationships. He directed documentation of Australian Irish Sign Language (AISL) through Endangered Languages Documentation Project funding, creating vital archival resources for endangered sign varieties.
His 15 most recent publications reveal interdisciplinary engagement spanning public health (deaf mental health studies), computational linguistics (sign language processing), and neurodegenerative disorders (collaborative cognition research), while maintaining core focus on Deaf community perspectives and linguistic rights.
- Provost's Award for Public Engagement (2010) for DCAL Deaf Open Day/Roadshow initiatives
- Nominated for UCL Students' Union Teaching Award (2017)
Adam actively engages Deaf communities through knowledge dissemination projects and serves as Vice Chair of Governors at Frank Barnes School, Co-ordinator of the World Federation of the Deaf Expert Group, and Trustee of the British Deaf Association. His DCAL leadership emphasizes participatory research models where Deaf communities co-design studies and access findings through BSL resources.
