https://www.facebook.com/theimpossiblehouse/

Laura Ryan – Research, Climate Risk and The ImPossible House

I am Laura Ryan, Head of Research and Development at Ardea Investment Management, where I lead research on portfolio construction, sovereign bond markets, climate transition risk and quantitative investment strategies.

You can read my professional profile here:
https://www.ardea.com.au/about-us/investment-team/dr-laura-ryan/

I’m also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, and I completed my PhD in Statistics at The Australian National University.

Most of my career has been spent trying to understand complex systems, financial markets, incentives, risk and the models we use to make decisions.

More recently, I’ve been applying that same mindset to something closer to home.

Literally.

My Front Door

My Research Expertise

My work focuses on portfolio construction, sovereign bond markets and climate transition risk.

In practice that means studying how quantitative models and statistical research can help people make better decisions in complex systems.

Areas I spend most of my time thinking about include:

• portfolio diversification
• sovereign bond markets
• climate transition risk
• model uncertainty
• quantitative investment strategies

My research has appeared in journals including:

• Journal of Portfolio Management
• Journal of Investing
• Journal of Forecasting
• Journal of Retirement
• Global Finance Journal

From time to time journalists ask me to translate research into plain English, and my work has appeared in outlets such as Bloomberg, the Australian Financial Review and Insurance Asset Management.

Another corporate photo of Laura Ryan

Research and Publications by Laura Ryan

I’m listed on the Portfolio Management Research Experts page, alongside many of the researchers and practitioners whose work has shaped modern investment thinking.

https://www.pm-research.com/experts

Some of my research includes:

Climate transition risk in sovereign bond markets – Global Finance Journal
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1044028323000637

Working paper (SSRN) – Model Uncertainty
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5165699

Bonds don’t need to be negatively correlated with equities – Journal of Investing
https://www.pm-research.com/content/iijinvest/30/6/70

Currency-Hedging Optimization for Multi-Asset Portfolios – Journal of Portfolio Management
https://www.pm-research.com/content/iijpormgmt/44/2/100

I’ve also written practitioner research translating these ideas into real-world investment decisions:

Rethinking portfolio diversification: why relative volatility outweighs correlation
https://www.ardea.com.au/rethinking-portfolio-diversification-why-relative-volatility-outweights-correlation/

I also contributed to research supported by the CFA Institute examining gender identity and promotion outcomes in finance.

https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/reports/2024/gender-identity-important-factor-in-promotion

For me, research has always been about helping people make better decisions under uncertainty.

Media and Commentary by Laura Ryan

Occasionally journalists ask me to comment on research, financial markets and risk.

Some examples include:

Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-03/pimco-quants-say-too-many-fund-managers-are-getting-hedges-wrong

Bloomberg – gender promotion research
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-22/women-in-finance-have-to-ask-for-promotions-men-don-t-survey

Australian Financial Review
https://www.afr.com/markets/debt-markets/this-fundie-is-making-money-on-bond-price-errors-20240126-p5f0bi

Insurance Asset Management
https://insuranceassetmanagement.net/iam/Ardea-fidante.php

Netwealth Portfolio Construction Podcast
https://www.netwealth.com.au/web/insights/netwealth-portfolio-construction-podcast/the-role-of-fixed-interest-strategies-in-an-ultra-low-rate-environment/

The Greener Way podcast
https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/2d1b4f7e-747f-472b-9cd3-17117ddc14ca/episodes/7272b2a6-64a6-4b82-bceb-227111b3254a/the-greener-way-getting-the-balance-right—dr-laura-ryan

The ImPossible House Sustainable Renovation Project

Outside finance I created The ImPossible House.

https://theimpossiblehouse.com/

The project explores what it actually takes to move a normal inner-city Sydney terrace toward being off-grid for water, sewage and electricity.

The project has been featured on:

Grand Designs Australia
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/FA2214H010S00

Better Homes and Gardens
https://7plus.com.au/better-homes-and-gardens?episode-id=BHAG31-032&autoplay=true

The same principles that apply to portfolio construction apply surprisingly well to houses:

Understand the system
Interrogate the assumptions
Model the risks
Design for the long term

Why Laura Ryan Writes This Blog

Climate transition risk doesn’t just appear in financial markets. It also shows up in houses, infrastructure and everyday decisions. Most people want to live more sustainably. But they don’t have time to read:

academic journals
energy modelling reports
lifecycle emissions studies
building regulations
policy debates

They have jobs, families, renovations and already too many decisions competing for attention.

This blog exists because I can do the research.

I read the studies.
Check the assumptions.
Compare the modelling.
And translate it into something practical.

Sometimes the answer is clear.

Sometimes the evidence is messy.

Either way, I share what I learn.

Not because I have everything figured out, but because figuring things out in public helps others make better decisions too. Check out my other blogs here: https://theimpossiblehouse.com.au/resources/our-blog/

Explore The ImPossible House

Learn more about The ImPossible House sustainable renovation project
https://theimpossiblehouse.com/

Watch the Grand Designs Australia episode
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/FA2214H010S00

See the Better Homes and Gardens feature
https://7plus.com.au/better-homes-and-gardens?episode-id=BHAG31-032&autoplay=true

About the Author

Dr Laura Ryan is a statistician, quantitative researcher and Head of Research at Ardea Investment Management.

Her research focuses on portfolio construction, diversification, sovereign bond markets and climate transition risk.

She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney and an internationally published academic whose work appears in journals including:

• Journal of Portfolio Management
• Journal of Investing
• Journal of Forecasting
• Journal of Retirement
• Global Finance Journal

She is also the creator of The ImPossible House, a sustainable renovation project featured on Grand Designs Australia and Better Homes and Gardens.

Learn more:
https://www.ardea.com.au/about-us/investment-team/dr-laura-ryan/
https://theimpossiblehouse.com/