Abstract This study investigates the effects of electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) on the linear and nonlinear dynamics of energetic-particle (EP)-driven magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) instability (mode) in Heliotron J (HJ), using MEGA, a nonlinear hybrid EP-MHD simulation code. The effects of ECCD are included through the modification of the equilibrium magnetic field. Five MHD equilibria with plasma currents ( I p ) of −2.00, −1.00, 0.00, 0.50, and 1.00 kA are considered, where negative and positive I p represent counter and co-ECCD, respectively. To account for the EP finite charge-exchange loss observed in HJ, a bump-on-tail velocity distribution is assumed for EP. The study finds that the stabilization trends in terms of the linear growth rate ( γ ω A − 1 ) are qualitatively similar to the FAR3D linear simulation and experimental results. In addition to the enhancements of the local magnetic shear and continuum damping by ECCD as proposed in previous studies, the study suggests that changes in the linear EP and shear Alfvén wave resonance are another important factor, especially for the n / m = 1 / 2 mode. The study shows that in the currentless equilibrium, the high-velocity toroidicity-induced resonance between the n / m = 1 / 2 mode and the co-passing EP ( L = − 1 ) has the highest EP energy transfer rate, but is located slightly below the NBI injection velocity. The co-ECCD and cntr-ECCD can shift this resonance into higher and lower velocity regions, respectively. This can lead to resonance removal for co-ECCD, while cntr-ECCD can initially increase the number of resonant EPs for a small value of shift. If the shift of the resonance by cntr-ECCD is sufficiently large, the study observes stabilization due to the reduction in the EP population in the low-velocity region. The study also finds that changes in resonance affect nonlinear dynamics such as EP transport and frequency chirping. The convective transport of the co- and counter-passing EPs can be controlled, which can only be achieved for energetic-particle-mode due to the asymmetry in the resonance velocity between co- and cntr-passing EPs. The changes in the frequency chirping from the downward chirping branch to the upward chirping branch can also be explained by the changes in the resonance velocity caused by ECCD.