Tim Bayliss-Smith was born in Brighton, England in 1947. He was educated at Brighton College before going on to university at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. He served on the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) program in Honiara, Solomon Islands, 1965-1966. He worked as a teacher in the Survey Drafting School in the Lands Department of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Government and as a librarian in the Geological Survey Department.

Tim has made a number of subsequent visits to Solomon Islands. In 1971, he spent 11 months on Ontong Java atoll for his PhD fieldwork and returned to Ontong Java in 1972, with the Harvard Biomedical Expedition. Tim joined the Department of Geography at University of Cambridge in 1973 where he has continued his research in the area of land management in the humid tropics, with a particular focus on Melanesia. Throughout his career, Tim has undertaken research in human ecology, population changes and the prehistoric ecology of various environments in Melanesia. He has returned to Solomon Islands on various research teams, carrying out fieldwork in Marovo Lagoon and Mase Crater, New Georgia. He has also carried out research in northern Sweden, Malaysia and Costa Rica.

Tim continues to serve as Emeritus Professor of Pacific Geography, and Fellow of St. John's College, University of Cambridge.