Adam Ockelford created the zygonic model of music-structural understanding, which was subsequently used to inform the Sounds of Intent framework of musical development.

[3] After leaving college, Ockelford started his career teaching at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London.

He now works at the University of Roehampton in London as Director of the Applied Music Research Centre.

[5] Ockelford is the Founder and Trustee of The Amber Trust, a UK-wide charity that supports blind and partially sighted children and young people in their pursuit of music,[6] former Chair of Trustees of Soundabout, a UK-based charity that supports people of all ages with complex needs engage with music, and Founder and Chair of Sounds of Intent Charity.

[7] In early 2021, Ockelford was made a Freeman of the City of London, by the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers.