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Dr. hwsyun’yun Skye Augustine’s doctoral research focuses on Indigenous‑led ecological restoration and food systems. Her breakthrough thesis, , bridges Indigenous knowledge systems, coastal ecology and environmental management and challenges conventional understandings of the relationships between people, land, sea, and food sovereignty.

Augustine’s 10-year biocultural experiment restored two ancient rock-walled clam gardens (335 m long) that were originally engineered over 4,000 years ago to assess their effects on coastal food systems. She worked with nine Coast Salish Nations, in a place with 19 land claims, three unique languages, four treaty statuses, and 12 governments with overlapping jurisdictions to make this happen, demonstrating profound leadership skills alongside her scholarly excellence.

What Augustine discovered was that the beaches with clam gardens hold significantly more clams than unwalled beaches, even when the gardens were left untended for centuries.

Augustine’s doctoral work centralized Indigenous knowledges, stewardship, and ways of being from start to finish. From reframing Indigenous peoples as long‑term ecosystem engineers and stewards, to including a fully oral chapter in her dissertation that followed Stz’uminus protocols for knowledge validation, and a defence that centred community and included Elders, knowledge holders and Indigenous governance practices, her work serves a model for Indigenized and decolonial doctoral research.

Her work has also inspired clam garden restoration across the Pacific Northwest including among Hul’q’umi’num’ and W̱SÁNEĆ Nations in Canada as well as nations in Washington State, Alaska, and beyond.

Augustine is a founding member of the Cross Pacific Indigenous Aquaculture Collaborative and the Clam Garden Network, where the work informs ocean policy, fisheries management, and Indigenous governance. She is the author multiple peer‑reviewed publications and is the recipient of major awards and scholarships, including the NSERC Alexander Graham Bell CGS Doctoral Scholarship and the Parks Canada CEO Award of Excellence.

Anne Salomon, Augustine’s academic supervisor holds Augustine and her work in the highest regard. Says Salomon, “hwsyun’yun Dr. Skye Augustine is an outstanding scholar and an engaged Indigenous scientist who produced an exceptional dissertation with widespread impact, both academically and societally, and is therefore incredibly deserving of this award.”

Augustine shares what being honoured in this way means.

“I’m so humbled. None of this work would be possible without the ancestors that came before me, the ongoing generosity of knowledge holders, the courage and unwavering support of my supervisory committee, and the willingness of 911�Թ� to try something new. The award is a symbol of the university taking a step toward honouring Indigenous knowledge systems and is an indication of the innovation that is possible when following First Nations leadership,” says Augustine.

Augustine is recognized as a national and international leader in Indigenous environmental science. Augustine was appointed a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) Assistant Professorship in the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries at the University of British Columbia where she continues Indigenous-led research on mariculture, food sovereignty, environmental governance.