João António Cândido Tavares began his career in scientific research in 1977 at the University of the Azores (UAc) that, at the time, was called the University Institute of the Azores. Since 2004, he is a Coordinating Researcher at UAc. In 1989, he obtained the degree of Docteur de État Ès-Sciences en Écologie, option Zooecology, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de Saint Jérôme - Université de Droit, Économie et des Sciences de Aix-Marseille III; and in 2001, acquired the degree of Aggregate in the discipline of Integrated Protection (IPM) of UAc.

He is responsible for the theoretical teaching of the disciplines of Biological Control and IPM of the 1st and 2nd cycle courses of Biology and also the Seminar discipline of the Biological and Health Sciences course. He develops the scientific activity in the area of Biology such as: Animal Ecology, Entomology, Biological Control and IPM. As a researcher, he was responsible for guiding various research projects and academic training of students, teachers and researchers, with the main objectives of gaining an understanding of the biology and dynamics of insect pests and developing new forms of struggle, favoring as much as possible biological struggle and cultural practices.

He published, individually and collectively (working in co-authorship), about 160 works in the Reports and Communications Series of the Department of Biology, Abstracts of Meetings and in national and international journals; these works are available with free access on the internet in the UAc Repository.

He is the author of the first patent of invention of the UAc, entitled "Mass production of entomophages, managed and controlled by computer in real time", and, a few years later, he gained the "Henry Ford Prize for Nature Conservation” in 1999.