John R. Helliwell studied physics at the University of York and obtained a PhD from the University of Oxford in 1978. For many years he was closely associated with the Synchrotron Radiation Source at Daresbury Laboratory, while also holding positions at the University of Keele, the University of York and the University of Manchester, where he is now an Emeritus Professor. His research has contributed to over 100 Protein Data Bank crystal structure depositions spanning enzymes, lectins and crustacyanins with ligands such as saccharides, carotenoids and metallodrugs or metalloimaging agents. In 2014 he was awarded the A. L. Patterson Award by the American Crystallographic Association and in 2015 he was awarded the Max Perutz Prize by the European Crystallographic Association. He is a Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Royal Society of Biology.