Paul Crawford (academic)

Academic career

Crawford received a first-class honours degree in English language and literature in 1994 before completing his PhD at The University of Birmingham in 1999. His thesis on the novelist William Golding was funded by the British Academy. Crawford joined The University of Nottingham in 2001 and led the development of a new research unit, the Health Language Research Group. A specialist in trans-disciplinary research related to healthcare, he went on to pioneer the new field of Health Humanities, becoming the first and only Professor of Health Humanities worldwide in 2008. He was principal investigator for both the Madness and Literature Network in 2008 and the International Health Humanities Network in 2011, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He is currently Director of the Centre for Social Futures, Institute of Mental Health, and co-directs Nottingham Health Humanities Research Priority Area. He also leads the Creative Practice as Mutual Recovery large programme funded by Connected Communities, Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK.

Writings

Crawford has written or co-written nine books. His first book, Communicating Care: The Language of Nursing (Nelson Thornes, 1998) was the first volume worldwide on non-medical discourse in healthcare. His second book was the novel, Nothing Purple, Nothing Black (The Book Guild, 2002), optioned for film by British film producer, Jack Emery (The Drama House, London/ Florida). His third book was a single-author monograph, Politics and History in William Golding (University of Missouri, 2003). This major, critical work was reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement (Medcalf, 2003) and a key chapter on ‘Literature of Atrocity’ anthologized in Bloom’s Guides to Lord of the Flies (2004; 2008). It also led to Crawford writing the entry for Golding in The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature (Oxford University Press, 2006). His fourth book, Evidence Based Research: Dilemmas and Debates in Healthcare (Open University Press, 2003) was Highly Commended in the British Medical Association (BMA) Book Competition for 2004. His fifth book, Storytelling in Therapy (Nelson Thornes, 2004) explores the use of short stories in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. His sixth book, Communication in Clinical Settings (Nelson Thornes, 2006) offers a new model for health communication (Brief, Ordinary and Effective Model). His seventh book, Evidence-based Health Communication (Open University Press, 2006) advances the case for health communication research and data-driven learning. His eighth book is Madness in Post-1945 British and American Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2010). His most recent book, Health Humanities (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2015), builds on Crawford's seminal paper that first defined the field in 2010.

Radio

Crawford has appeared on major radio shows, such as the Today programme and Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, to discuss issues related to mental health, religion, and creative writing.