Jonathan Woodham

Professor Jonathan Woodham is a leading figure in the development of the History of Design as an academic discipline, who developed pioneering design history courses at the University of Brighton, forming the internationally renowned Design Archives, and spearheading the institution’s reputation as a powerhouse of design historical research.

Having initially joined the Brighton College of Art in 1982 as course leader for the then new and innovative BA(Hons) History of Design degree, he was awarded his Professorship of Design History at Brighton in 1993, the year in which he also became founding Director of the Design History Research Centre. His first degree was in Fine Art (First Class, 1973) at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art, before he went on to take an MA in British Romantic Art under Professor Michael Kitson at the Courtauld Institute of Art (1974).

Jonathan Woodham was involved in curriculum innovation in design history from the mid-1970s, becoming closely involved with the Design History Research Group and the Design History Society, founded in 1977. He later played a key role in the establishment, in 1994, of what was to become the internationally significant University of Brighton Design Archives and was intimately involved with most of its subsequent major acquisitions.

He led the development of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Brighton School of Art in 2009, scripting and co-organising the central publication and exhibition, much of which supplies the history of art education in Brighton text included on this website.