João is an intern at the Okeanos research unit of the University of the Azores. He took his bachelor's degree in Biology at the University of Évora and the master’s degree in marine and coastal systems at the University of Algarve, where he studied meiofauna communities (with a focus on nematodes), in two Arctic cold seeps through the collection of sediments and images with the help of an ROV. During his thesis, he gained knowledge in deep-sea biology and ecology and sample processing and identification of epi- and infauna, presenting his work at two international conferences. Before this, he also contributed to the study of meiofauna communities in abyssal plains along the Gloria fault (NE Atlantic).

His work as part of the Azores Deep-Sea Research group focuses on the processing and analysis of underwater images contributing to the characterization of the deep-sea biodiversity of the Azores region.