Nicola Rowan Wheen is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in national and international environmental law, and environmental law and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Wheen joined the law department at the University of Otago in 1984 as a student, gaining her LLB before joining the academic staff in 1989, rising to associate professor in 2015[1] and full professor in 2021.

[2][3] Wheen completed a Master of Laws titled The Resource Management Act 1991 and water in New Zealand: impact and implications at the University of Otago in 1995.

[4] She researches how law addresses international and national environmental problems, such as whaling, marine mammal by-catch,[5] climate change, freshwater allocation, forest conservation on Māori-owned land, the environmental impacts of tourism, and how sex work is regulated through planning law.

[1][3] Wheen is a member of the Centre of Research Excellence Coastal People: Southern Skies, led by Anne-Marie Jackson and Rosalina Richards.