James Ryan originally intended to study Commerce at UCD and then set up his own business, but a chance encounter of the marine kind left him looking for more.

After his Leaving Certificate, James hitched around Scotland for a summer and found himself stranded on the Outer Hebrides for a few days. While there he spent a lot of time on the shore, examining the rock pools left by spring tides, and, he says, quickly became passionately interested in the previously unknown life going on inside.

Originally from Wexford, "with its dull coastline", James was mesmerised by what he had discovered, and immediately rang his mother and asked her to change his application to marine biology in UCD.

Since then, he has followed both his dreams – he worked for many years as an independent consultant, with his own business, and now works in the Marine Institute at the forefront of marine science in Ireland.

At the moment, he is working on a project called 'Smartbay', which will see sensors of different kinds placed throughout Galway bay in order to monitor the conditions in the ocean.

Such a project could have hundreds of potential uses, and a similar system is currently being implemented on the West coast of the US in order to predict earthquakes and tsunamis.

There will be between ten and twelve different types of sensor placed around Galway bay, including some (eventually) as far out as the Aran islands. They will be connected to the mainland by 80km of fibre optic cable, which will allow for data to be passed in and out. The cable will also allow scientists on the mainland to instruct the sensors, some of which will be moving around the seabed.

The sensors will include video cameras and some audio equipment as well as temperature gauges, which will all work 24 hours, seven days a week.

"It's a mind-boggling amount of data," according to James. The data produced by Smartbay will be of use to many different groups. It will even be able to show members of the public which part of the bay is best to swim in on a given day, with images available on the website showing temperatures in different areas.

He hopes that the project will eventually lead to exploration of the deep ocean, about which we still know less than we do about space.

The project is being carried out as climate change becomes an ever more pressing issue, and is designed to help Ireland become one of the leading authorities on climate change and the ocean's role in it.