Adam was born and raised in North London. Following studies in History at Durham University, he served as a British Diplomat from 1995-2025, undertaking postings at the United Nations in Geneva, in Nigeria, Lebanon, and Azerbaijan, where he served as Political Counsellor and UK chargé d’affaires at the British Embassy in Baku. His professional expertise is focussed on African, Middle Eastern and national security affairs. In addition to his diplomatic role Adam worked across the UK government. From 2016-2020 he was Head of the UK Ministry of Defence Joint Inter-Agency Task Force, advising on emerging hybrid threats and potential responses to UK interests.

Adam was awarded an MPhil in Politics and International Relations from Cambridge in 2014. He has held visiting academic positions at Durham and Cambridge Universities. At the latter he co-founded the Centre for Geopolitics’ Strategic Simulation programme, which develops practical geopolitical crisis-response skills for students and practitioners alike (https://www.cfg.cam.ac.uk/engagement/simulations/). In 2026, with the backing of the University of Cambridge, Adam co-founded the spin-out venture KairoSim (https://www.kairosim.co.uk/) which brings this this approach to a wider range of commercial and not-for-profit organisations. Adam acted as consultant to Sky TV’s recently broadcast The Wargame which highlighted the risks of continuing geopolitical instability leading to wider conflict.