Seward's work has predominantly focused on thermochronology applied to basin analysis and tectonic evolution.
Her research has also been instrumental in developing dating of volcanic deposit through fission track analysis.
She completed her undergraduate degree in geology (BSc Hons) in 1963[1] at University College Aberystwyth in Wales.
[1][2] She was one of the first researchers to study the sedimentology of the Wanganui basin including early tephrochronology and developing some of the earliest fission track dating in New Zealand,[1][3][4] and this work continues.
Seward's international contribution as a researcher includes roles as a visiting scientist in the Max Planck Institut für Kernforschung, Heidelberg from 1976 to 1978; Senior Scientist at the Institute of Nuclear Sciences, DSIR, New Zealand 1979–1990 (with further work on fission track dating)[6] Senior Scientist at ETH, Zurich between 1990 and 2008; Visiting Scientist in the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai 1999; Invited Visiting Professor to Tongji University, Shanghai 2008; Blaustein Visiting Professor to Stanford University, California 2009 before returning to New Zealand in 2010 as Professor at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Geography Environment and Earth Science.