Julia Goodfellow was the first woman ever to lead a UK research council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), to which she was appointed chief in 2002. Her scientific interests centre on biomolecular research into the role of water in protein structure, an important area for understanding the source of a number of human diseases.

She began her career in crystallography as Professor of Biomolecular Science at Birkbeck in 1995 and was promoted to Vice Master in 1998. She was elected Universities UK president from 2015 to 2017, the first woman to hold the role. She has also variously been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent and Chair of the British Science Association. In 2010 she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to science.