Nicholas has a BA Hons in Archaeology and Education from the University of York (1997) a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Bradford (1998), a MSc in Osteology, Palaeopathology and Funerary Archaeology from the University of Sheffield (1999) a DPhil in Biological Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Oxford (2006). During his MSc and DPhil Nicholas specialised in the analysis of human skeletal remains primarily from Punic and Roman Spain, focusing on health, disease and interpreting the data within a biocultural framework. For a number of years, he also worked on human skeletal remains from Prehistoric to early 20th century sites in the UK, Spain, France and Portugal and he has undertaken work on a number of museum collections.

Nicholas's interests include: Age estimation in the living methods of sex, stature and age-at-death estimation from human skeletal remains bioarchaeology – reconstructing lifestyle, health and disease from past populations forensic archaeology – the application of archaeological principles, techniques and methodologies in a legal context taphonomy – the study of organism decay and fossilisation trauma - the study of physical wounds and injuries ethics of human remains promoting the disciplines of forensic archaeology, anthropology and bioarchaeology.