Published on 20 February 2025
Blog post by: Will Bugg, RENEW PhD Student
Above: Meeting industry experts and fellow academics at the Royal Society, London.
Towards the end of 2024, I had the pleasure of attending several events to meet fellow researchers but more importantly, investors and business professionals to provide a different perspective to my PhD research. These events were well timed as I approached 18 months into my PhD research. Following a period of focused exploration, I was prepared to receive industry feedback on my work package.
Kicking off I attended, “How does ecological risk relate to commercial risk? at the Royal Society” which attracted both corporate attendees and academics from all over the country to discuss how neglecting nature is leading to global catastrophic risks. The event was chaired by Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge, Sir Partha Dasgupta. This two-day event, offered captivating presentations and engaging panels from leading academics, lawyers, investors and organisations. The Royal Society’s theme of ecological risk management linked well with my research into ecological resilience, which I was eager to share. I even bumped into fellow RENEW Theme 4 Co-investigator, Ben Groom.
Above: How does ecological risk relate to commercial risk? Conference at the Royal Society.
The second event entitled “Nature Data for Institutional Investors“, took a deep dive into the advancements, remaining challenges and solutions of sourcing and using investment-grade data to aid in measuring corporate impacts on nature. The event hosted a range of speakers, including members of different business sectors, investors and companies providing solutions to the problems encountered when attempting to measure nature.
I attended the event alongside RENEW Theme 4 colleagues Noel Morrin and Xiaoyu Yan. We reflected throughout the day on how, event discussions and presentations could be used in our work. Discussions on the use of global datasets to measure elements of biodiversity certainly resonated with my work and it was good to pick the brains of the people who are looking at the challenge from a different perspective.
Above: Sharing ideas with fellow RENEW colleague Xiaoyu Yan at the: Nature Data for Institutional Investors, event.
Finally, I visited the Agile Initiative based at the Oxford Martin School, at the University of Oxford. This event was a Systems Thinking Masterclass for Practice Researchers, attended by myself and others from the University of Exeter. The day was an interactive and collaborative workshop that explored the concept of systems thinking and how it can be used in interdisciplinary research projects to deal with challenges in real world systems.
Yet again, this provided a great opportunity to reflect on my research, especially as I look to bridge the gap between business and academia to aid corporates in tracking their impacts, risks and opportunities on biodiversity and nature.
My overriding feeling gained from these events was that we need to drive for action. It seems that many of us, me included at times, often discuss the issues and problems we face and speculate over the solutions. While helpful, these events make me feel as though there is no replacement for trying things out – even if they don’t work perfectly first time. It really is time to act, if we want to change.
Above: The Oxford Martin School is housed in the former Indian Institute building on Broad Street, Oxford. Image credit by Tony Hisgett.
My travels in 2024 took me to the other side of the world. With a desire to play rugby in a new country, a game I have enjoyed so much in the UK for years – alongside taking my research to a place with different perspectives and new ideas. For my research 9 months away were invaluable. When I first arrived, I was 7 months into my PhD and thus still deep in exploring how I can provide an exciting and original contribution to science. I reached out and connected with fellow academics at UNSW Sydney. This gave me the chance to attend coffee mornings, listen in on interesting seminars and best of all get some good advice on global datasets from well-known academic Associate Professor David Keith.
Above: ‘From a research perspective, the 9 months away were invaluable.’ Sydney Harbour. Image credit: Frances Gunn.
I also got the chance to connect with the parent company of my sponsors JO Hambro, Perpetual Asset Management. They were really interested in my work and the liaison between myself, my supervisor Oshadee Siyaguna and Jeremy Dean at Perpetual meant that I got the chance to visit their offices in Sydney just 3 weeks into my stay. Here I was given a desk space where I could be super productive and exchange ideas about my work. The relationships I built at Perpetual opened doors to yet more opportunities, and opened discussions about how I could contribute to their work specifically the Great Forest National Park project, a proposed expansion of a key forest area in Victoria.
I spent some time running resilience analyses on the area and it’s hoped that communications surrounding this research will restart in 2025 so I can develop this analysis. Additionally, during my time away I had an opportunity to visit the Regnan (JO Hambro’s sustainable investment brand) offices in Melbourne, meeting colleagues from both Sydney and London, allowing another chance to share my work.
Coincidently, while I was in Sydney the Sydney Climate Action Week kicked off. This great event hosted panels, workshops and discussions all over the city throughout the week. I managed to attend workshops and get involved in the Climate Action Week run club, which ran under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and around the Opera House, lots of fun!
Above: Playing for Randwick Rugby Club 2nd Grade Against Northern Suburbs in Quarter Finals.
Taking a break from research, Sydney gave me the chance to catch up with friends and family, who are usually miles away. However, most of my time was spent getting stuck into the rugby season. I played for Randwick Rugby Club, an internationally recognised team based out of Coogee Sydney, spending the season playing in both the 3rd and 2nd grade, losing in the semi-finals with the 2nd grade, a frustrating end to a season for the team.
However, it was a season in which I played the best rugby I have ever played, at the highest level. The schedule was busy, we trained 3 times a week, had 3 gym sessions and played on a Saturday, but it was all good fun and a positive environment. Most importantly, I made good friends, who I hope to visit again soon!
Above: Attending a shirt presentation with Godfathers 7’s team at a tournament in Dubai.
I can’t say that Sydney was all plain sailing, while providing great flexibility and opportunity, working remotely had its challenges. PhD research is solitary by nature but on the other side of the world, it’s even more so. Due to this, it was an exciting premise to get back to the UK towards the end of the summer in 2024 and reconnect with RENEW colleagues in Exeter.
To add to this, I had some trouble with a condition I was diagnosed with earlier in 2018: arthritis in my spine (Ankylosing spondylitis). I went out to Sydney without medication, which was a considered decision I made with my doctor. Unfortunately, a decision I later rued as I had two painful flare-ups, where I found myself unable to get my socks on in the mornings, let alone play rugby and train! This was a tough reality check, which was hours away from sending me home, but some timely packages from my parents with medication meant I could make it through to the last game of the rugby season before returning to the UK and sorting it all out.
All in all, visiting Australia was a great chance to find different perspectives to my PhD research, from investors, climate activists and fellow academics, whilst also playing rugby, reconnecting with loved ones and exploring a lifestyle on a different continent.
When the rugby season came to an end in Sydney I headed back to the UK. I moved down to Exeter to get stuck into PhD life. Settling into a new home certainly had its challenges but I spent a lot of my time training at Exeter Arena track, at St Sidwell’s Point gym and the riverside pool and spa. I joined a run club and spent time with colleagues in the office at the Laver building on the beautiful University of Exeter campus.
Then I received an opportunity to play 7s rugby out in Dubai for a week in December. This was great fun and a high level of 7s, I spent a week training and playing with Godfathers Rugby, a Southwest team raising money for Young Lives Vs Cancer. This was a nice way to catch some sun again, returning to a UK winter was quite a shock.
Above: The University of Exeter Business School ranked 8th globally by the Times & Sunday Times good University guide for business & finance. Image: Wikipedia
In what is notoriously a lesser discussed issue, especially where I have been concerned, the need to address my mental health became glaringly apparent over the last year. While my 2024 might sound exciting, it coincided with a tough time I was having with my personal mental well-being due to experiencing an upsetting and difficult change in life. Your mental wellbeing can be extremely well hidden to others but also yourself when not actively acknowledged. Having rarely been a person to reflect and talk openly about how I feel about life, 2024 taught me how important it is to be able to do so.
Whilst away, I struggled to deal with my mental health, and the move to a new city, living alone for the first time, tested me further. Thankfully this forced me to seek help and being in Exeter allowed me to access therapy at the University of Exeter and continued help from the NHS Talkworks service.
These services allowed me to process the thoughts, feelings and emotions I had been dealing with for several years and struggled with throughout 2024. While I am still a work in progress, the support helped me massively as I adjusted to a new life. I was able to understand the importance of personal well-being, and learned coping strategies to manage it more affectively. I cannot speak highly enough of these services and if there’s anything I plan to carry across into 2025 it’s the importance of maintaining good mental health and seeking help when you need it…or even better, addressing it even when you think it’s not needed!
The learning and experiences gained throughout this period of my life have been invaluable. But what I cherish most of all has been the continued support of friends and family. Returning to the UK I realised how much I had missed this time and the ability to lean on friends and family when required, lucky boy!
Above: Maintaining health & wellbeing are central to Will Bugg’s PhD journey.
2024 has been a year of learning and growth, I’ve gained a fresh perspective with big plans for 2025, both academically and personally. For example, I want to make the most of my PhD research by producing some papers that will slot nicely into my thesis. More specifically this will involve finishing up business-focused interviews for a qualitative study whilst running a focus group with other key stakeholders to present the results.
This will allow me to write the following paper:
‘Investigating how businesses understand their impacts on biodiversity, how they assess the associated risks and opportunities, and how resilience thinking can inform recommendations for improvement.’
In addition to my qualitative work, the rest of my research has been focussed on exploring and collating global climate and diversity datasets. The analysis of this will be combined with some vegetation resilience work, which will allow me to produce a number of papers based on how certain variables relate to vegetation resilience. The hope is that I can link this global resilience analyses to business impacts on a smaller scale later on in my research. Lots of work still to do! Finally, I will also be keeping my eyes peeled for more events to attend and opportunities to present my work.
There is an exciting RENEW event in the diary for May 2025, where all the ECR will be attending a retreat in Dartmoor to write together, share research ideas and socialise, this will be fun!
On a personal note, I’ve decided to take a break from the rugby for now, a decision that hasn’t come lightly, but opens doors to many other fitness goals. A friend and I have, possibly rather naively, set our sights on an ultramarathon and in July 2025, we will run from the North to the South (ish) of Mallorca, a 100km route, which takes us through local roads, past beautiful vineyards and olive trees.
The training for this event will dominate my life for the first half of the year, which I’m really looking forward to – I needed something to give my training purpose! After this, I think I’ll explore what the Hyrox hype is all about… and I of course there’s the rest of the rugby 7s season to finish, health permitting.
I hope I’ve provided a realistic overview of my trials and tribulations throughout 2024, I’ve tried to give an honest perspective of what PhD life is and can be all about. All in all, I hope throughout 2025 I continue to work hard, train hard, travel more, spend time with friends and family, but most importantly, enjoy the journey.
