Oliver has worked in a broad range of educational settings, formal and informal, with a variety of learners since 2001. Before taking up his role as Director of Education & Skills with UK Music he had been lecturing in education and human geography at Aberystwyth University and undertaking doctoral research. His educational experience encompasses widening access to HE programmes, undergraduate tutoring, community education, schools, and youth work with a creative focus (as musician, composer, deviser and performer). He was also extensively involved in the voluntary sector in his home-county of Ceredigion in mid-Wales both as community worker and trustee with the County Voluntary Council and his local Communities First partnership. He is currently trustee of Creative & Cultural Skills and on the advisory board for Live Music Exchange. He has played music since his teens in a variety of bands and composed and performed for theatre and TV. For a number of years he was drummer for a lion dance troupe and has also been long-listed for the BBC Fame Academy Award and was a finalist in the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry in his native Wales.
