Adam is Professor of Policing and Social Justice at the University of York and Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Leeds. In 2013, he established and was the inaugural Director of the N8 Policing Research Partnership (N8 PRP, 2013-20); a collaboration between eight universities and policing partners across the north of England.

Alongside the ESRC Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre, Adam is currently working on a European Commission Horizon 2020 project IcARUS: ‘Innovative Approaches to Urban Security’ (2020-24). In this project he led the research and production of the State of the Art Review and Roadmap that will inform the co-design and implementation of innovative approaches to urban security in the six partner cities.

He is Chair of the Departmental Research Committee in York Law School. From 2015-21, he was Director of the Leeds Social Sciences Institute (LSSI) which supports interdisciplinary research development, fosters external engagement and research impact and promotes skills and social methods training across the University of Leeds and PI on the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account grant (£1.3m), the largest in the UK.

He is a member of the new Police Scientific Advisory Council, which provides independent advice to the National Police Chiefs’ Council in the UK on science, technology, analysis and research matters relevant to policing policy and operations. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and an Honorary Lifetime member of the British Society of Criminology.