An interview with Tamsin Bishton

Tamsin Bishton is co-founder of Wilsome, and will be speaking at Research by the Sea (27-28 February 2025) in Brighton on ‘What happens when we listen to the birds?’

Tamsin Bishton’s career in research has spanned digital journalism, community management, corporate communications, content strategy, and purpose-led communications in a diverse range of organisations. She was editor-in-chief for the start-up social network Dobedo during the first dotcom boom, before spending five years as editorial manager for the corporate communications team in the Home Office. Later she led a team of copywriters, journalists and content strategists at iCrossing. She founded Wilsome with Charlie Peverett in 2018.

Ahead of her talk at Research by the Sea, we caught up with Tamsin to discuss her thoughts on effective researcher traits, leadership and tackling climate change.

What would you say the top three character traits of an effective researcher are?

It probably sounds obvious, but you really have to be curious with a big open mind. Being interested in and warm towards other people as a default setting is really helpful. And not being afraid to approach research with a beginner's mind every time is really important too. If you can take that approach, confident that you can draw on relevant experiences and skills when they are needed, you do much better research in my experience.

Which leader (or thought leader) has had the greatest impact on you and your career?

A really hard question to answer. Without sweating too much over the answer I'd say Joanna Macy's work on Active Hope has been shaping my thinking and approach to my career the most deeply for at least 10 years now.? Reading that book helped me to look long and hard at how my working life could be shaped towards facing the trouble the planet is in and doing something about it ... or not. I've been trying to do the former. I have also been profoundly influenced by Robin Wall Kimerer and Anna Tsing, who have helped me to understand my fundamental interconnectedness with all life on the planet and put my sense of disconnection into historical, cultural and social context. I go back to the writing and thinking of all three of these women often and find something new every time.

What are you currently listening to, reading or watching?

Listening to: Richie Hawtin's 30 minutes of 90s techno (part of 6 Music's 90s Forever series) followed by an episode of Scene On Radio podcast from Duke University (particularly the most recent series: Capitalism). Reading: Cunning Folk by Tabitha Stanmore. Watching: The Traitors on BBC1.?

It’s clear we need to take immediate action against climate change. What are your thoughts on the climate change narratives we hear today and do you think they succeed in inspiring us to take action?

That's another VERY hard question to answer. It depends on which narratives you look at, who they are aimed at and what action you are talking about. Climate change is the ultimate "wicked problem," and I think there's a casting about for something simple and "one size fits all." When it comes to climate change narratives, it is just mission impossible.

Having been thinking about this question for nearly a decade on and off, I feel more and more perplexed at the way that, no matter how much we know and understand about the challenges we face—and how much evidence we now have in our daily lives that things are REALLY BAD and GOING TO GET WORSE—those of us in privileged economic circumstances in the richest nations in the world just can't motivate ourselves to accept any change to what we perceive as our very convenient and comfortable lives.

I say that based on the fact that we continue to generate more and more greenhouse gas emissions despite understanding that it is setting us on a path to misery and possible extinction. So that's one analysis at a "big picture" level.

AND. I see all kinds of powerful narratives being generated and shared in all kinds of contexts and communities that are both inspiring and inspired by incredible forms of action. Community energy projects, local food projects, the revolution in renewables that has powered businesses like Ecotricity and Octopus. Incredible feats of community regeneration and self-definition exemplified by things like Civic Square in Birmingham. Honestly, I could write a list as long as your arm.

It's not like nothing is happening. Somehow, these narratives don't get the space they deserve. And I think that does hold back action because we can feel disconnected and alone, even as communities who are doing stuff.

Some claim AI will help us solve climate change, yet the reports of its ever-increasing consumption of resources (energy and water) suggest a different story. What’s your take?

I don't think AI will help us solve climate change. We are going to have to completely restructure our society to do that. I would love to be one of the optimists and believe that we can wield AI in a different way to the way that we've wielded the tech that we've created before. But it's being created in the same capitalist paradigm that took Tim Berners Lee's beautiful utopian vision for the internet and gave us ... the putrid hate-filled space that is X and 24/7 online gambling and all the other digital horrors that helps businesses keep making another $ at the expense of the majority of humans and animals living on this planet.

Why is it important for researchers to look beyond the typical research methods in their UX toolkit?

Because we need to be asking different questions about different topics if we are going to move beyond the current extractive, destructive paradigm. Our typical research toolkit might be excellent at helping answer those typical questions. But if we really want to understand each other and our world from a place of regeneration, healing and equity we need to do things differently.

We are delighted to have Tamsin Bishton speaking at Research by the Sea (27-28 February 2025) in Brighton on ‘What happens when we listen to the birds?’.

Research by the Sea and UX London are brought to you by Clearleft, the design transformation consultancy. We apply the power of our design expertise to transform organisations, products, design teams and individual careers.