Between Us: Professor Euan Ritchie and Dr Anthony Rendall

At midnight, in the depths of winter, tracking, tagging and evaluating long nosed potoroos and eastern barred bandicoots on French Island requires focus and fortitude.

It’s dark, the air is icy, the ground is muddy, the bracken is dense, you can only see one metre ahead via a head-torch and you’re searching for small traps deep in the coastal heathland.

It’s all part of working in the field for ecologists Professor Euan Ritchie and Dr Anthony Rendall from Deakin's Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment. And it’s an aspect of their job they both love.

The two first met at Deakin 15 years ago and share a passion for ecology, biodiversity conservation and inspiring others to consider and care for our unique native species.

As well as being ecologists and teachers, one is a brilliant science communicator and leader – Euan, who won the 2024 Eureka Prize for Promoting the Understanding of Science - and the other, Anthony, is a talented research statistician and PhD mentor.

Their connection has evolved over the years, from a teacher-student relationship to research colleagues and friends committed to conserving Australia’s wildlife.

It’s an alchemy that’s been shaped by honesty, respect and an appreciation of each other's specific scientific and personal strengths.

Their project on French Island in Victoria, in collaboration with Zoos Victoria and Phillip Island Nature Parks, monitors how the behaviour and survival of potoroos and bandicoots is changing in relation to feral cat numbers, habitat type and complexity.

Armed with a field ecologist’s ‘essential’ toolkit - water, first aid supplies, a pocketknife and a GPS - Euan and Anthony, along with PhD candidate, Meg Farmer, regularly head out to set and check traps.

These traps help the team weigh and measure the potoroos and bandicoots, implant unique microchips to assess their health and evaluate their overall population numbers on French Island and through time.

Ultimately, Euan and Anthony hope their research will enhance outcomes for at-risk Australian animals and ecosystems, not just on French Island but in other regions across our remarkable and wildlife-rich continent.