He was born and raised in Kampung Takutan, Ranau, Sabah, at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu, near the southeastern border of Kinabalu Park. Like many KadazanDusun children, he spent much of his early years learning about and appreciating the wonders of nature surrounding his village in Borneo. At the age of 11, he moved to Peninsular Malaysia to further his secondary education at Melaka Secondary School and later pursued higher education at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). After 11 years, he returned to his hometown to serve as a Park Ecology specialist and later became the Research Coordinator for Sabah Parks, based in Kinabalu Park. There, he contributed to developing the Ecology Division into the renowned Sabah Parks Research and Education Division.

His areas of interest include protected area management, conservation of rare and endangered plants, taxonomy, reproductive biology, ethnobotany, and nature interpretation and education.

Dr. Jamili Nais obtained his BSc with Honours in 1988 from the Faculty of Life Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). He later earned his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Aberdeen.