Professor Nick Heather is a highly lauded clinical psychologist and a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, at Northumbria University. He specialises in research into alcohol problems and substance use, challenging the conventional disease model of alcoholism and substance addiction. In 2017 he won the Jellinek Award for his outstanding contribution to research.

Professor Heather was instrumental in developing the brief interventions for excessive drinking, an approach used broadly by health professionals worldwide. In addition, he has published over 500 scientific articles, books, book chapters and other publications, with an emphasis on the treatment of alcohol problems.

Professor Heather's books reconceptualise alcohol problems and addiction as disorders of voluntary behaviour rather than diseases and provide alternate treatment and preventive approaches. He co-edited Addiction & Choice: Rethinking the Relationship, giving a radically new perspective on addiction and integrating research from leading experts in the field.

Professor Heather has established alcohol and addiction research groups around the world and was most recently Director of the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Studies at Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom.