Dr Victoria Jane Heckels is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Forensic Psychologist and she is Chartered as a psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS). She is an Associate Fellow of the BPS and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Victoria is a Principal Lecturer at Teesside University, is the Course Leader for the Professional Doctorate in Psychology (Old Route) and was the Programme Director of the MSc Forensic Psychology Course for a number of years.

Victoria has previously been accredited by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) as a Behavioural Investigative Adviser and is currently an Expert Adviser to The National Crime Agency.  She has provided advice to a large number of major police investigations since 1993.  Victoria trained as a Hostage Negotiator with Alberquerque Police in 1998.

Victoria's areas of research interest include the personality characteristics of offenders, stalking and harassment and domestic violence.  She has worked as an Academic Psychologist since 1993 during which she has supervised over 200 undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation students. Prior to this, she worked for the Kings Fund in London, where she carried out research in the NHS and in the  Special Hospitals (Rampton, Ashworth and Broadmoor).

Victoria gained her Doctorate in Psychology in 2014.