Director of the ANU Centre for Environmental History, Ruth is an environmental historian and historian of science with a particular focus on Australia, the British Empire, and the Indian Ocean world, living and working on the unceded lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples.

Her research has been generously supported by the Australian Research Council, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment & Society.

Ruth serves on the executive of the International Consortium of Environmental History Organizations, and the American Society for Environmental History. She was a Lead Author (Working Group 2) of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

She was previously based at Monash University (2012-2020), and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Western Australia.