Ruby Ekkel is a PhD candidate at Australian National University. Her research focuses on changing attitudes towards and interactions with native animals, especially as mediated by women. After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in history at the University of Melbourne, Ruby achieved a Masters degree at the University of St Andrews. She has also spent time studying at Trinity College Dublin and worked for several years as a resident history and politics tutor at Newman College in Melbourne. She has published and presented on topics spanning animal history, environmental history, and women's history in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

Ruby is an HDR Representative for the Australian Historical Association Executive, and a co-editor of the ANU Historical Journal II. Outside the university setting, she co-edits a podcast about Australian environmental history, The Bush Bash.