Throughout her career, Jill Seddon was a pioneer and innovator in Design History as a field of academic enquiry, with major achievements in pedagogy and research, working in the field of women designers, craft design, public sculpture and urban development.

Retiring from the University of Brighton in 2012, Jill Seddon’s career ran in parallel with the introduction and development of Design History as a field of academic enquiry. She initiated the first design history courses at Preston Polytechnic (now the University of Central Lancashire) and at Glasgow School of Art. After joining the staff at Brighton, she taught both studio-based students and on the original History of Design course, becoming  leader of the programme, where she was responsible for the development and delivery of all courses including new undergraduate courses in Fashion and Dress History and Museum and Heritage Studies.

Seddon’s research interests focussed on the work of women designers, the Regency Town House restoration project in Brunswick Square, Hove, East Sussex, and research on the public sculptures of Sussex as part of the Public Sculpture and Monuments Association’s national recording project. She co-edited the book Women Designing – Refining Design in Britain between the Wars with Suzette Worden.