Trevor Smith obtained his BSc(Hons) and PhD degrees from the University of Melbourne before being awarded an Australian National Teaching Company Scheme Scholarship. He then completed a post-doctoral position at Imperial College, London before returning to the University of Melbourne as an Ernst & Grace Matthaei Research Fellow.

He was subsequently awarded an ARC QEII Fellowship investigating applications of time-resolved, multiphoton and confocal microscopy. He was appointed as a lecturer in 2004 and is now Professor & Reader in Chemistry.

His research interests are in the broad area of photochemistry/photophysics specialising in ultrafast laser spectroscopy and optical microscopy applied to systems including organic and other photovoltaic materials. He is a CI in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science.