João Paulo Horta Bettencourt

João Paulo Horta Bettencourt is a Research Fellow at SEI Headquarters – Water, Coasts and Ocean Team of the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division.

At SEI, João works on marine infrastructure and systems, environmental monitoring, and ocean governance. His research focuses on the sustainable development of the blue economy and climate adaptation pathways, with an emphasis on collaborative governance and conflict prevention in marine and coastal contexts. He contributes to the Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue (C2B2) project, which aims to advance a Sustainable Blue Economy for Sweden. His work includes offshore wind governance, environmental data security, and adaptation strategies for marine and coastal infrastructure.

Before joining SEI, João was a SEAS Research Fellow at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Bergen, where he investigated the sustainability of Norwegian fjords. He has over 15 years of experience across oceanography, physics, and engineering, including work on coupled physical-biogeochemical modeling and marine environmental assessments.

João holds a Ph.D. in Physics, with a specialization in turbulent flows, and has an academic background in oceanography and engineering.