Breaking down research silos to understand a shifting Salish Sea

A partnership built on shared purpose—and shared funding  

A unique co-funding model brought this collaboration to fruition, the kind of cross-sector scientific expertise the Salish Sea urgently requires. The project is partly supported by an NSERC Alliance Grant aimed at strengthening partnerships between universities and non-profit, public-sector, or private-sector organizations. The Tula Foundation, as the Alliance Grant co-funding partner, also provides extra research funds, in-kind equipment, and personnel to the project through the Hakai Institute.  

“That’s what’s really neat about this,” explains Heather Earle, a coastal ecologist with Hakai and one of the project’s technical leads. “NSERC Alliance grants aren’t for academic-to-academic collaborations; they’re for projects where universities work with non-profit, academic, and government partners. Seeing the collective power of this network has been incredible.”  

Redefining what collaboration looks like in practice  

The full Sentinels research group meets twice a year, bringing together 12 principal investigators from UBC and Hakai, seven project-specific technicians focused on long term monitoring and biodiversity surveys, seven postdoctoral researchers, and several allied research specialists from Hakai Institute’s Nearshore and Wetlab mesocosm teams.  

These meetings enable the group to shape research questions, determine responsibilities, share preliminary findings, and discuss feedback. Collaboration is reinforced through the Alliance’s open-data policy, which provides access to six core biodiversity monitoring datasets—from intertidal invertebrates to algal species—creating a shared resource not only for all Sentinels partners now, but also to anyone else interested in using the quality-controlled public dataset at the five year mark. 

Team members also join each other’s fieldwork that transcends beyond their expertise, learning new methods and strengthening collective knowledge.   

Access to facilities and technical support at Hakai’s two coastal research stations has allowed postdocs to collaborate with field and lab specialists to rapidly plan and undertake focused experiments to dig into details behind some of the trends that the core monitoring reveals. 

Alyssa describes this as a ‘Loose Network’ model: “We come together to make decisions, then move apart to take action—then return again to refine and adjust. And this extends beyond our day-to-day work. Sometimes, we need to have difficult conversations to ensure we remain committed to our shared vision.”   

“Working collaboratively requires intentionality, putting in the time, listening openly, and trusting that even when challenges come up—as they inevitably do—we’ll work through them together. It’s not always easy, but it’s the key to our success.” 

 

What’s next for the network 

Now halfway through the project’s five-year funding window, the Sentinels of Change Alliance is moving through its most active phase: sampling, analyses, and synthesis. Much of the monitoring builds on long-term datasets at UBC and Hakai, giving researchers a deeper historical baseline, and context for understanding emerging patterns.   

Reflecting on how far they’ve come, the team unanimously agrees that unlike a traditional research landscape where expertise is often siloed, this Alliance demonstrates what becomes possible when collaboration is a foundation, not an add-on. 

“We’re trying to understand a deeply interconnected system,” Heather adds. “Our team needs to be interconnected as well. When partnering with others, it's not just about aligning goals, but building trust, curiosity, and shared ownership. The science gets better—but so does the experience of doing it.” 

“And we’re not stopping when the grant ends,” says Alyssa. “We want to build protocols and relationships that have a lasting impact. The team is already talking about how to sustain the core monitoring into the future.”

As the tide rises and the field day concludes, the team’s work is far from over. Researchers pack their equipment, exchange notes, prepare samples for transport, and the shoreline returns to the rhythm of the sea. Each specimen, each data point, each conversation adds to a growing picture of the Salish Sea—and to a partnership poised to address climate change today, and in the years to come. 

Written by Alpha Lam, UBC Internal Communications
Interviewed in August 2025