Her father; David M. S. Watson FRS was a vertebrate palaeontologist and a zoology and comparative anatomy professor at the University of London.

After a convincing recommendation from Professor H.L Hawkins and a first class General Honours degree, Watson attended Imperial College.

She became bored with her job and went on to teach biology at Wentworth School, Bournemouth before deciding to become a geologist by the end of World War II.

The two completed their Ph.D theses in 1949 followed by a wedding and honeymoon in the Channel Islands, which explains a joint publication on the geology of Sark a few years later.

They published their thesis work in a paper in 1951,[6] that had a major impact on the study of Precambrian basement complexes, by showing that it was possible to understand their metamorphic and structural development as a series of discrete orogenic events that could be discerned in the field.

[2] Around the 1960s, Janet and her research team collaborated with survey geologists from the Highlands Unit of the Institute of Geological Sciences (IGS) to study the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

This technology aided Janet's research in the Caledonian Belt, showing metamorphic rocks, migmatites, and granites ages ranging from 750 to 360 million years old.

[10] From the mid-1970s Jane worked with the IGS to study the post-Caledonian evolution of Scotland and the effects that diagenesis and hydrothermal activity had on the region.

[2] From 1977, Jane worked with the IGS again to study the structural evolution of northern Scotland and its effects on uranium distribution throughout the region.

[13] Throughout her career, Janet continued her research in certain regions of the world, including: Greenland, the Channel Islands, Italy and Tanganyika.

The conference puts an emphasis on giving the opportunity to young geologists starting their careers to present and discuss their research.