Seddon was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire in June 1997. He was raised in Morley, West Yorkshire in a single-parent family by his mother, Catherine, who works as a speech therapist in the National Health Service.^[1]

Seddon was educated at Westerton Primary, a local state school in Morley, West Yorkshire. He then studied at Heckmondwike Grammar School, a state school in Kirklees, West Yorkshire.^[2] In his later years at school, Seddon was involved in competitive debating, where he won a number of regional and national awards and was invited to join England's National Debating Team.^[3]

After leaving school, Seddon read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Mansfield College, University of Oxford, graduating with first class honours.^[4] During university, he was an occasional contributor to The Daily Telegraph, where he wrote articles about reforming Britain's higher education system.^[5]

Zero Gravity edit

Upon graduating from the University of Oxford, Seddon founded Access Oxbridge, a mobile app that connected school students from low-income backgrounds with mentors currently studying at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.^[6][7] Prior to the app’s launch, British universities had come under criticism for the number of students admitted from private schools.^[8] In 2016, the University of Oxford gave 59% of offers to UK students from state schools, whilst 93% of all UK students are educated in state schools.^[9] Oxford University spends £14 million per year on programs to recruit applicants from low-income backgrounds, costing £108,000 per student admitted.^[10]

Seddon’s app aimed to increase access to Oxford and Cambridge by matching low-income students with undergraduate mentors who coached students through weekly hour-long video calls.^[11] Seddon built the app from his hometown bedroom and initially funded the initiative from the remnants of his university maintenance grant.^[12] In its first year, 110 low-income students mentored on the app achieved offers to study at Oxford and Cambridge.^[13][14] In October 2019, Seddon was awarded the Prime Minister's Points of Light award for social impact in education.^[15]

Media coverage of Seddon’s work attracted the attention of a number of social impact investors who, in March 2020, provided Seddon with £425,000 of venture capital investment to expand his work.^[16] Seddon re-designed his app and relaunched it as Zero Gravity in May 2020.^[17] Zero Gravity aims to increase social mobility by developing technology to identify low-income students and provide them with personalised support to win places at UK universities, including Oxbridge and the Russell Group.^{[18][19][20][21]}

In 2020, over 1000 students mentored by Zero Gravity achieved offers to study at Russell Group universities.^[22] Zero Gravity has supported 261 low-income students to study at Oxford and Cambridge since its launch.^[23] In June 2021, Seddon received the Diana Award in memory of Princess Diana for social impact in the education sector.^[24]

In December 2021, Seddon confirmed that he had raised a seed round of investment in Zero Gravity totalling £3.5m.^[25] In 2022, he was named by Forbes in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.^[26]

Seddon was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to social mobility.^[27]

Seddon's work as an entrepreneur has been covered by BBC News,^[12] The Times,^[28] The Daily Telegraph,^[29] and Corriere della Sera.^[30] He is a contributor to BBC News, BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he discusses education, social mobility and careers.^[31] He has also been a guest speaker at the Cambridge Union, where he has delivered lectures on social entrepreneurship.^[32]

In October 2020, Seddon was appointed as a Trustee of the British Youth Council.^[33] Seddon is also a Governor of Lister Community School.^[34]

Seddon lives in London and is a Hull City supporter.^[35]