João is the founder and Director of MARE-Madeira and is a Principal Investigator at MARE. He is the Principal Scientist and Scientific Coordinator of the Smithsonian MarineGEO NE Atlantic Madeira site and is Co-Head of MARE-Madeira's Climate Change & Human Pressures team. João has a PhD in Biological Oceanography and Marine Sciences from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and before founding the Canning-Clode Marine Lab in 2013 (which evolved into MARE-Madeira), he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). João currently chairs the Working Group for Introductions and Transfers of Marine Organisms at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and is an Edinburgh Ocean Leader.