Professor Adam Crawford named as British Academy Fellow
Posted on Friday 17 July 2026
Professor Crawford, who holds the Chair in Policing and Social Justice at York Law School, has been elected as an 'Interstitial' Fellow, which straddles two of the Academy's disciplinary sections: Law; and Sociology, Demography, and Social Statistics. The election recognises his outstanding contributions to interdisciplinary research, socio-legal studies, and criminology.
At the University of York, Professor Crawford serves as the Co-Director of the ESRC Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre, a pioneering £10 million initiative exploring how policing interacts with systemic vulnerabilities like mental health, homelessness, and poverty.
Throughout his distinguished career spanning four decades, he has secured over £24 million in research funding and established key collaborations between academia and public services, including serving as a member of the UK's Police Science Council and founding the N8 Policing Research Partnership.
On receiving the news of the Fellowship, Professor Crawford said: “I am delighted to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy and truly honoured to join so many distinguished UK and international scholars, as someone who cares passionately about harnessing the contribution of the humanities, law and social sciences to address contemporary societal challenges.
"I'm especially pleased that my election as an Interstitial Fellow straddling both 'Sociology, Demography, and Social Statistics' and 'Law' brings further recognition to the intersections of social theory, socio-legal studies and criminology, as well as the possibilities for interdisciplinary knowledge production to address the harms of crime and injustice."
The British Academy Fellowship comprises over 1,800 world-leading scholars from the UK and overseas; Professor Crawford’s Fellowship is one of several announced in July, 2026.
Professor Susan J Smith, President of the British Academy, said: "Our new fellows join a community of scholars with unparalleled expertise, dedicated to advancing research, fostering collaboration across disciplines and demonstrating the value of the humanities and social sciences. I am proud to give my warmest congratulations to them all on their election today.”
Notes to editors:
Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a Fellowship consisting of over 1,800 world-leading leading scholars in these subjects from the UK and overseas.
Current Fellows include the classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard, the historian and China expert Professor Rana Mitter and philosopher Professor Baroness Onora O’Neill, while previous Fellows include Dame Frances Yates, Sir Winston Churchill, Seamus Heaney and Beatrice Webb. The Academy is also a funder of both national and international research, as well as a forum for debate and public engagement.