João Franco

I am a doctoral candidate in Marine Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of University of Porto - Portugal and Coastal Management at the Faculty of Marine Sciences at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – Spain. My research at Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) is focused on experimental ecology where I do study the responses of marine communities to climate change, especially the forests of large brown seaweed - kelp along the Iberian coast. I also actively cooperate with other researchers from the University of Western Australia in a project on a global scale for understanding the biogeographic influence of climate change on kelp forests and with researchers of Stockholm and Gothenburg Universities - Sweden in projects related with productivity of seagrass communities and connectivity of fish assemblages among different habitats in West coast of Sweden and Western Indian Ocean respectively.

Before I worked with fish communities, corals and invasive species in coastal and estuarine areas of Portugal, Scotland, Brazil and United States. My academic career began with a degree in Marine Biology and Biotechnology at the School of Marine Technology – Peniche, Portugal and I finished my master's degree in Ecology at the University of Coimbra in 2010. I have always been naturally connected to the sea through swimming, surfing, apnoea and sailing. SCUBA diving came in 2000 and since then uses it regularly for leisure and as a tool to develop my scientific work. Currently I am PADI Dive Master and European Scientific Diver certificated in Germany and Sweden.