Ruth Cowlishaw completed a BSc in Biology at Liverpool John Moores University, going on to undertake a postgraduate MSc in Biology and Control of Parasites and Disease Vectors at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). Following this she undertook a technical role investigating insecticide resistance within Anopheles mosquito populations. Throughout her time in the Vector Department at LSTM, she was responsible for rearing mosquitoes, undertaking bioassays, and helping to design CRISPR Cas-9 experiments to investigate individual KDR mutations in isolation.

From there, following her passion for public engagement Ruth moved to the Education Department, becoming a Teaching Laboratory Assistant. Over two years she helped teach a variety of students diagnostic parasitology and laboratory techniques. This also allowed her to join the Hybridisation in urogenital schistosomiasis team in Malawi to undertake fieldwork, investigating the hybridisation of schistosomes along the shores of Lake Malawi.

In 2024 Ruth started HER studies as a Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership PhD researcher at LSTM under the guidance of Prof Russell Stothard.