Patrick Heaven completed his first degree at the University of Stellenbosch, followed by Honours and Master degrees from the University of the Orange Free State and his doctorate in Psychology from Unisa in 1980.
His first university appointment was at UOFS before relocating to the Australian National University in 1982. He has also taught at Charles Sturt University and the University of Wollongong (UOW), where he was Head of the School of Psychology for 10 years. He served as Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences at UOW.
He was most recently at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) where he held the position of Dean of Research from 2012 to February 2017 and continued in a part-time capacity until his retirement in August 2018. He has held visiting appointments at University College, London, Rhodes University, and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Patrick has published 6 academic books and more than 160 scientific papers. He has won research funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council. His recent work is cited above the world average for his discipline.
Patrick married Leonora in 1973. They have 4 children and 8 grandchildren.