MEET THE TEAM
Who We Are
JOSÉ TAVARES
Director
José Pedro Tavares, a Portuguese national, is a biologist with a life-long vocation and action in the field of nature conservation. After doing his university in Lisbon, he went on to the UK to do a PhD on ornithology (the study of birds) . He then worked for the Portuguese Government National Park Service, and spent 12 years at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), a UK charity, and the biggest nature conservation organization in Europe, and one of the biggest in the world. There he managed the RSPB programme in five countries: Turkey, where he is based, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain. At the VCF since February 2013, José is enjoying very much the opportunity to build an organisation from scratch. He aims to develop the VCF into a sustainable, effective, leading organization securing the protection of vultures and their habitats. This work involves not only on-the ground conservation projects and activities on vultures, but also, curcially, organizational development and management. On his (limited) spare time, José tries to go birdwatching, but he is also a part-time foreign correspondent (for a Portuguese newspaper), and enjoys practicing sport – mostly soccer, squash, and jogging.
