The National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway) ranks among the top 2% of Universities in the world. With over 17,000 students and more than 2,400 staff, NUI Galway has a distinguished reputation for teaching and research excellence. The Ryan Institute is the University hub for Environmental, Marine and Energy research and contributes to some of the most important national and international, long-term, environmental, marine and energy issues. The Institutes research aims are to improve our understanding of and our predictive capacity about marine ecosystems, while fostering innovations to make the most of sea resources. A marine and coastal processes thematic research area encompasses research on coastal biogeochemical processes, ecosystems and human health, marine pathways, and the changing coast, and thus contributes to a vision for clean, healthy, safe and biologically diverse seas.