Stephen James Simpson[1] was born on 26 June 1957 in Melbourne, Australia.

[2][3] He graduated with a BSc from the University of Queensland in 1978, and completed his PhD at King's College London in 1982 on locust feeding physiology,[4] called "The control of food intake in fifth-instar Locusta migratoria L. nymphs"[2] Simpson spent 22 years working at Oxford University, in Experimental Psychology, the Department of Zoology, and the University Museum of Natural History.

[2][3] He returned to Australia in 2005 as an ARC Federation Fellow,[3] joining the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney.

][5] and was appointed academic director of the newly-opened Charles Perkins Centre at Sydney University in June 2014.

[6][7] Simpson co-wrote, narrated, and presented of the four-part ABC TV documentary series Great Southern Land, broadcast in September 2012.