Azores Deep-sea Research

João Balsa

Research Assistant Jun 2023 — Present

0000-0001-9962-9156

0118-D650-7E4D

João is currently working with us with the position of Research Assistant in the team.

Autobiography

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).

Research interest

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.

Last contributions in ADSR

Publications

Peer-reviewed (publication DOIs only)

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Democratizing deep-sea research for biodiversity conservation

Oct, 2025

4 team members involved

Cruise reports

DOIs from your cruises & projects

Zenodo

MapGES 2025 Cruise Report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores on board the RV Arquipélago

Sep, 2025

10 team members involved

Zenodo

MapGES 2025 Cruise Report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores on board the MT Physeter

Sep, 2025

11 team members involved

Zenodo

MapGES 2024 cruise report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores on board the MT Physeter

Oct, 2024

15 team members involved

Zenodo

MapGES 2024 cruise report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores on board the RV Arquipélago

Oct, 2024

13 team members involved

Zenodo

MapGES 2023 cruise report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores on board the MT Physeter

Oct, 2023

15 team members involved

Zenodo

MapGES 2023 cruise report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores on board the RV Arquipélago

Oct, 2023

15 team members involved

Zenodo

OceanX 2023 cruise report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores on board the RV OceanXplorer

Oct, 2023

9 team members involved

Zenodo

MapGES 2021 Cruise Report: Exploration and mapping of deep-sea biodiversity in the Azores, summer 2021

Dec, 2022

11 team members involved

Datasets

From your cruises & projects

No dataset DOIs linked to your cruises and projects yet.

Projects

DEEP

On-going Project

DEEP: Deep-sea Ecosystem Evaluation for Policy solutions

Funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P.

2025.00366.AZO

Marine Beacon

On-going Project

Monitoring and elimination of bycatch of endangered and conserved species in the NE and high seas

Funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe

101135237

REDRESS

On-going Project

Restoration of deep-sea habitats to rebuild European Seas

Funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe

101135492

MapGES2

On-going Project

Characterization of deep-sea habitats, for its mapping up to the outer limit of the Azores sub-area...

Funded by Regional Government of the Azores, EU, ACORES-14-62G4-FEDER-000001, PO Açores 2020, REACT-EU, ERDF

18/DRPM/2022, ACORES-14-62G4-FEDER-000001

ROLEX - Azor drift-cam project

Project

ROLEX - Azor drift-cam project

Funded by ROLEX

ROLEX