João Cravinho holds a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Oxford as well as two degrees from the London School of Economics. He also taught at the University of Coimbra. In his career, he served as EU Ambassador to India (2011–2015) and to Brazil (2015–2018). He subsequently served as Portugal's Minister of National Defence (2018–2022) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2022–2024). Before joining the College, he served as EU Special Representative for the Sahel.