Stephen E. Harding (born August 2, 1955) is a British biochemist specialising in biomolecular hydrodynamics. Harding is currently Professor of Applied Biochemistry at the University of Nottingham, has been the Director of the National Centre of Macromolecular Hydrodynamics since its foundation in 1987 and is a member of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age.
Harding's notable work includes finding remarkable protein-like behaviour of carbohydrates and the discovery of high levels of Scandinavian genes in the ancestral population of North West England and helping to organise the sailing of a Viking longship from Norway to Wallasey. In 2002 he was awarded a DSc from the University of Oxford and in January 2012 was awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.