David Best is the world’s first Professor of Addiction Recovery. He has moved to Leeds Trinity University from Derby University, where he undertook research around addiction recovery and desistance from crime, to become the world’s 1st Professor of Addiction Recovery.

He leads research into work on desistance from offending, recovery capital, and pathways to addiction recovery. He is also interested in social identity theory and its implications for recovery, recovery and desistance, addiction treatment effectiveness, prison and community connections, and family experiences of addiction and recovery.

David is also Honorary Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at The Australian National University and Chair of the Prison Research Network of the British Society of Criminology. He trained as a psychologist and criminologist, and has worked in practice, research, and policy in the areas of addiction recovery and rehabilitation of offenders.

He is Director of Studies for PhD students studying addiction recovery, gambling, regulation of prisons and drug and alcohol treatment in prisons.