Jackson is from New Zealand and received her undergraduate degree in 1971 after studying political history and economics at Auckland University in 1973. In 1997 she was awarded a University of New South Wales M.Arch degree in architectural history and theory with a thesis that examined the internet-era implications for pre-internet theories about the history and future of domestic living and architecture. Jackson earned her Ph.D. by publications from the University of Kent School of Architecture in 2017.
