We are deeply saddened that our colleague and dear friend Adam Kampff passed away yesterday, at the age of 45. Adam will be lovingly remembered by his family, friends, colleagues, and the thousands of students he has inspired over the years.

Adam began his academic journey with a PhD in neuroscience at Harvard University, before moving to the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. Adam joined SWC in 2015, one of the Centre’s first Group Leaders. Throughout his career, he inspired everyone he worked with. He led research into how the brain creates intelligence, focusing on how it constructs representations of the world to control behaviour. 

Adam was a born teacher, who knew almost everything and could explain almost anything to almost anyone. This passion for teaching meant he was instrumental in establishing the SWC PhD programme. Even after leaving SWC in 2020, he continued to be a huge part of our lives, especially by inspiring our incoming students during the PhD BootCamp. 

At the same time, he dedicated his life to broadening scientific education to young people around the world. Adam wanted to empower the next generation to become fearless, independent thinkers and doers. Together with his wife Elena Dreosti, he co-founded No Black Boxes, an education and technology foundation dedicated to demystifying modern technology. Their courses have already reached over 2,000 young people in 69 countries. SWC are privileged to continue to work with the foundation to deliver Adam’s legacy of transformative education for all. 

“Adam was a hero to all of us who knew him. He lived his values. His raw intelligence, insatiable thirst for knowledge and playful curiosity were as infectious as they were inspiring. And equally inspiring was how he fought his illness – with incredible spirit, sense of humour, and grace in the face of the inevitable. Even in his last weeks, he was curating code and creating content that will be used to teach future generations – his lasting legacy. The world has lost an amazing human being.” – Tom Mrsic-Flogel, Director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre. 

Adam will be deeply missed by the SWC community. Our thoughts are with Adam’s family at this time.