Statement by Professor John R Helliwell

I am keen to offer myself to serve the BCA as its next President.

I have been involved with the BCA from its inception in 1982. This has included being an active participant at many BCA Conferences, as a Council member including as the BCA's Vice President from 1989 to 1993, and as a local organiser of the BCA Spring Meeting Conference in 1993. My students and staff have also essentially attended all of the BCA Spring Meeting Conferences, and various Autumn Group Meetings, year-on-year. They offer terrific value for money and a great educational experience, in breadth and depth, in crystallography.

In recent years I have gained experience in the global scene including as IUCr's Editor-in-Chief of Acta Cryst since 1996, and as EinC thereby also a member of IUCr's Finance Committee. I was also a JSR Main Editor between 1994 and 2000. Since 1999 I also have served as the ECA's Founding Chair of its Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques (IET) SIG. I was joint organiser of the ACA Transactions Symposium in Buffalo in 1999. I led the UK delegation to the IUPAB General Assembly in New Delhi, India in 1999.

My science interests are broad but encompass especially biological crystallography and methods. Specifically my research work has involved crystal structure studies of enzymes, lectins and of the carotenoid binding protein crustacyanin. My methods development research has involved the SR, and now neutron, Laue method and the use of SR anomalous scattering in macromolecular crystallography.

As a specific proposition I am keen to share my thoughts on the setting up of what I would call for the moment BCA 'Methods Groups', which I envisage would cut across and underpin our BCA core Groups (BSG, CCG, PCG and ICG), and complement the new diamond and Education SIGs. Thus Methods Groups could be convened on eg:

1. Software and Databases.
2. Instrumentation and Experimental Techniques.
3. Time-resolved and Perturbation Structural Studies including non-crystalline techniques such as the various spectroscopies. [Involving other structural techniques such as NMR in the BCA is perhaps a bold step but witness the success of the recent RSC Faraday Discussion Meeting on Time-resolved chemistry organised by Prof Chick Wilson and myself and also the BCA CCG Manchester Autumn meeting of 2 years ago, also in Hulme Hall, on Complementary techniques organised by Dr Madeleine Helliwell.]

At each BCA Spring Meeting these Methods Groups would meet. They should/would include people who have not so far committed time to BCA events.

Overall I know I have much to build on from the leadership and work of all the previous BCA Presidents. I hope then that you would give me the chance to make my contribution to the BCA from 2003 to 2006 as its next President.

John Helliwell