Announcing Professor Jane Pavitt as the Guest Judge for the 2026 Design History Society Design Writing Prize

Awards

22 April, 2026

We are delighted to announce that Professor Jane Pavitt is the Guest Judge for the Design Writing Prize 2026. This prestigious international prize is awarded annually by the Design History Society and invites scholars, researchers, critics, practitioners and educators to champion the cause of critical debate in design through writing.

More details on how to enter can be found here. Submissions for the 2026 prize are accepted until 23:59 BST on 15^th July 2026.

Professor Jane Pavitt is Director of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation at the University for the Creative Arts. Her career spans research and teaching in design history, as well as extensive work in the museums and galleries sector. Prior to joining UCA in 2025, she was Head of Research for the Zaha Hadid Foundation, a charitable foundation devoted to architecture and design, which she joined at its outset to lead educational, curatorial and research activity. Previous roles also included Kingston University and the Royal College of Art, where she was Dean of Humanities and headed (for the RCA) the V&A/RCA History of Design programme.

As the V&A’s principal research fellow (1997-2010), in collaboration with the University of Brighton, Jane curated a series of ground-breaking exhibitions in modern and contemporary art and design included Brand.New (2000), Brilliant: Lights and Lighting (2004); Cold War Modern: Art and Design 1945-70 (2008-9, with David Crowley) and Postmodernism: Style and Subversion (2011-12, with Glenn Adamson). In 2017, she curated Superstructures: The New Architecture 1960-1990 (with Abraham Thomas) at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. She is the author/co-editor of their supporting publications. She is currently an adviser to the Design Museum’s curatorial committee and a REF 2029 Deputy Chair for UoA32 Art and Design History, Theory, Practice.

 

Listen to the 2025 Design Writing Prize winner Rosa te Velde in conversation with last year's judge Professor Elizabeth Guffey here.