After 10 years as a physiotherapist, Bex Foxglove decided on a complete change; she ditched her job and moved south from Feilding, with her husband — who also left his job — and they embarked on study in Dunedin.
She is now starting her third year studying botany at the University of Otago, having spent the summer on an internship at AbacusBio, and planned on doing a master’s degree.
Acknowledging it was a "huge" life change, Mrs Foxglove said she felt she could not practise physiotherapy in a way she wanted to, if she did not want to own her own business.
There was not much of an opportunity to work in a team and she wanted a different environment to work in, not the "same same". And while there was still a lot of learning with physiotherapy, she was keen to do more research-type work. Being out in nature was something that really appealed to her while the return to study did not faze her.
When she was accepted for the internship at AbacusBio — the programme was supported by the Ministry for Primary Industries, Callaghan Innovation and JobDUN — she was not sure about the agriculture aspect.
But she decided it would be good to broaden her scope.
Given the significance of primary industries in New Zealand, it was important to understand the food and fibre sector.
She described the internship as "very, very cool". She was involved in a project about farm environment freshwater plans, putting together a business model and a service delivery model for councils to look at.
She spoke to a wide range of people involved in that space, including representatives from Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Otago Regional Council and Otago Catchment Community. She also learned about catchment groups.
Coming in "completely with a blank space", she embraced the opportunity for learning. There was also the personal benefits from it too — the networks and contacts, and the interactions with the other nine interns.
Looking ahead, Mrs Foxglove said she had not firmed anything up yet — there were "lots of different avenues to go down".
The plan was to eventually live and work in Canada.
For other people who were not happy in their jobs, she encouraged them to look at other options. "If you’re not happy, why stay? There’s absolutely no reason to keep doing something."
Fellow intern Emily Crosse, who has just finished her undergraduate degree in science (biochemistry), minoring in entrepreneurship, said it was a nice combination.
She did not particularly want to go down the academia path, preferring to do more industry work, particularly in the innovation, product design space.
One of her supervisors showed her the application for AbacusBio and the bridging science and business appealed to her.
From a farming background in Hawkes Bay, she worked on a methane mitigation project and had thoroughly enjoyed it.
She was now continuing to work part-time with AbacusBio; there was still a lot of work to do — the model she had made could go further, she said, while also embarking on a master’s in bioengineering.
Being at AbacusBio and meeting so many inspiring people, including Sir Ian Taylor, from Animation Research, had opened her eyes to many opportunities.
Being quite a social person, initially the idea of being in Dunedin over the summer did not have a lot of appeal but she had since changed her mind.
"Honestly, I had the best summer."
