Crawford received a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature from the University of Birmingham in 1994, followed by a PhD in 1999.

In 2001, Crawford joined the University of Nottingham, where he founded the Health Language Research Group.

Currently, he serves as Director of the Centre for Social Futures at the Institute of Mental Health.

In 2021, he led the "What’s Up With Everyone" campaign with Aardman Animations, which aimed to support young people’s mental health.

The campaign won "Best Social Media and Content" at the 2021 Design Week Awards.