[citation needed] On his return to the UK (via Land Rover across the Sahara) he took up a lecturing position in the Geography Department of Queen's University Belfast in 1979.
His interest in desert weathering then developed into the study of building stone decay, linking architecture, urban planning, cultural heritage, and other aspects of human geography into his work.
[citation needed] He established the weathering research group in the early 1990s in the school of Geography, Archaeology and Paleoecology at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) Website.
[4] In a 2012 eulogy, Patricia Warke, a colleague from Queen's University Belfast summarised Smith's work by saying: "His research interests were wide and varied but were rooted in his love of hot deserts and tropical landscapes and his desire to better understand the processes that shape them.
Whilst the interpretation and exploration of landscapes formed the central core of Bernie's career, his fascination with process studies and weathering processes led him onto some of his most significant geomorphological work and establishment of the Weathering Research Group in the early 1990s in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queen’s."