Robert Adam is a Deaf linguistics researcher originally from Melbourne, Australia, who currently serves as Associate Professor in Languages and Intercultural Studies at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK. His research encompasses sign language contact, minority sign languages, Deaf interpreters and translators, and sociolinguistics of sign languages. He brings both academic excellence and lived Deaf experience to his roles in research, teaching, and advocacy.
Early Life and Deaf Community Involvement
Robert Adam was born deaf in Melbourne, Victoria, to deaf parents, Robert "Mac" Adam and Julia Adam (née Brown). He grew up within a large Deaf family, including a deaf sister, aunt, and step-mother[2]. He attended Princess Elizabeth Junior School for Deaf Children and later Yarra Valley Grammar School, completing his Higher School Certificate in 1986[2].
He became actively involved in Deaf community leadership beginning in 1987 by joining the board of the Victorian Council of Deaf People, serving as its president from 1991 to 1994. He also held leadership in the Australian Association of the Deaf (AAD, now Deaf Australia), serving on its board from 1989 and as president from 1999 to 2003. Additionally, he worked with the NSW Association of the Deaf (now Deaf Australia NSW), including as president from 1999 to 2003[2].
Academic Career and Research Interests
Adam moved to the UK around 18 years ago and joined University College London (UCL), where he completed his PhD on unimodal bilingualism in the Deaf community—examining language contact between two sign languages in Australia and the UK[3]. At UCL’s Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL), he served as Teaching Fellow/Director of Continuing Professional Development and was an Honorary Lecturer[4].
In 2020, he joined Heriot-Watt University as Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies, School of Social Sciences[4]. His research interests include sign language linguistics, sign language contact, interpreting, translation, minority sign languages, Deaf interpreters, and sign language rights[1].
Advocacy and Professional Qualifications
He is a qualified sign language interpreter and translator and has worked as a Deaf interpreter in Australia, the USA, and the UK[5]. He also serves as Coordinator of the World Federation of the Deaf Expert Group on Sign Language and Deaf Studies and is recognized for both his academic depth and leadership in Deaf research and rights[4][5].
Peers and community members often cite Adam’s persistence, passion, and encouragement of others as defining personal virtues. His story of overcoming barriers in education, coupled with his advocacy, serves as an inspiration to Deaf students and researchers worldwide[3].
- Heriot-Watt University. (n.d.). Robert Adam profile – Languages & Intercultural Studies. Heriot-Watt University Research Portal
- Deaf in New South Wales: A Community History. (n.d.). Robert Adam.
- Deaf Unity. (2020, October 29). Deaf Role Model of The Month: Robert Adam.
- Robert Adam (2020, September 22). Sign languages and deaf people during Covid-19: how you can help in the classroom. Cambridge University Press.
- The Face Of(f) Conference. (n.d.). Robert Adam – Assistant Professor, Heriot-Watt University.
