John obtained his BA in Mechanical Sciences and Electrical Sciences as an undergraduate at Jesus College between 1966 and 1969, and continued in the Department of Engineering to study for a PhD, which he obtained in 1974.

He came to Fitzwilliam in 1971 as a Research Fellow.  He remained at Fitzwilliam, whilst undertaking research both in the Department of Engineering and in the Department of Physics.  From 1989 until his retirement from the Cavendish Laboratory in 2004, he held the post of Assistant Director of Research at the Microelectronics Research Centre.

He has been a Life Fellow since 2014, and is the College Archivist. 

Some publications

J. R. A. Cleaver (editor) (2004). Micro and Nano Engineering 2003.
Proceedings of the conference MNE 2003; Cambridge, September 2003, Elsevier
(also published as Microelectronic Engineering 73–74, June 2004).

J. R. A. Cleaver (2004). From the scanning electron microscope to nanolithography.
Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics 133, 485.

J. R. A. Cleaver (2013) Fitzwilliam – The first 150 years of a Cambridge College. Third Millennium Publishing.

J. R. A. Cleaver (2018) Letters to the Censor – Fitzwilliam Hall in the Great War.