Jeremy Smith was born and educated in Britain. After obtaining an MA in Natural Sciences at Cambridge and a Diploma in Education in Singapore, he moved to Australia where he completed in 1974 a PhD on New Guinea high altitude flora at ANU, Canberra. Moving to Armidale NSW (where he still resides), he lectured in Geography at UNE before serving as Station Leader of Australian Antarctic Stations in 1996 and from 2000 to 2010.