João is an associate researcher at the University of Madeira and MARE-Madeira, and Co-Head of MARE-Madeira's Climate Change & Human Pressures team. His expertise spans ecology, experimental design, community assessments, habitat mapping and on molecular tools for diversity assessments. At MARE-Madeira, João encourages experimentation with new technologies and manages research activities using UAS aerial & underwater imagery for habitat mapping, coastal monitoring, litter detection and other applications for marine science.

Before joining MARE-Madeira, he was based in the Azores and was a post-doctoral fellow and contractor with Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and has participated in numerous missions of the Global Reef Expedition. He is part of the scientific diving committee in MARE-Madeira and responsible for overseeing the planning ROV and UAS flight operations. João has a PhD in Marine Sciences (Marine Ecology Specialty) and a Licenciatura in Biology (Marine Biology Specialty) from the University of the Azores.