Career
After a period as a postdoctoral researcher on ALIVE, a European Commission FP7-funded project at the University of Bath, Crick was appointed lecturer in computer science at Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2009, before being promoted to full professor in 2016. He was recognised as a UK National Teaching Fellow in 2014. He moved to a research chair at Swansea University in 2018, becoming Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Civic Mission from 2021-2023. He was appointed Professor of Digital Society and Policy at the University of Bristol in January 2026.
Government service
In November 2023, Crick joined the UK Government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as Chief Scientific Adviser. In this role, he provides scientific and technical leadership across the department's policy areas, advising ministers and senior officials on science, technology and artificial intelligence. His responsibilities include supporting the design, governance, assurance and deployment of complex socio-technical AI-enabled systems across areas such as media, culture, the creative industries, sport and civil society, and contributing to cross-government scientific advisory structures that promote high-quality, evidence-based policymaking. Crick was appointed to the Council of the Arts and Humanities Research Council in 2025. He is currently chair of the Social and Behavioural Science for Emergencies (SBSE) Steering Group.
Computing education and digital skills
Crick has been involved with the reform of the school-level science and technology curriculum in Wales since 2010. In 2013, he was appointed by the Welsh Government to chair an independent review of the ICT curriculum in Wales. Crick concluded that the existing curriculum did not adequately equip learners with the digital skills required for contemporary education and employment. This work treated digital education and skills provision as a large-scale socio-technical system, integrating curriculum design, assessment, teacher capability and supporting digital infrastructure.
From 2015–2016, Crick chaired the development of the bilingual Digital Competence Framework in Wales, which elevated digital competence (the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to be confident in the use of technologies) to the same statutory position as literacy and numeracy in the new Curriculum for Wales. It outlined how schools could incorporate student-centred digital competency into their local curriculum.
He then led the development of the Science & Technology strand of the new Curriculum for Wales in 2017. His efforts united the traditional sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) with computer science and design & technology. The new curriculum was published in January 2020 and started phasing in for all schools in Wales from September 2022 onwards. Crick was also appointed Chair of the National Network of Excellence in Science & Technology, a £4m Welsh Government strategic investment which focused on supporting STEM teachers in partnership with higher education institutions.
Crick also chaired Qualification Wales’ 2018 review of ICT sector qualifications, which reported that they were outdated and needed considerable reform, resulting in new GCSE and A-Level qualifications in Digital Technology from 2021 onwards.
