Cultural Heritage • Indigenous Partnerships • Landscape • Research
“My work and thinking in geography, anthropology, and landscape architecture are shaped by field experiences and insights gathered from around the world, particularly through interactions with Indigenous experts and non-Indigenous knowledge holders whose lives and identities are deeply connected to land and sea.”
For more than twenty-five years, I have worked at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, cultural heritage, landscape, and place. Working with Indigenous communities, governments, universities, and major organisations across Australia, Fiji, the United States, and Inuit Nunangat (Arctic Canada), I have sought to bridge academic research and professional practice in ways that support communities, Country, and informed decision-making.
My career has spanned academia, consulting, and executive leadership in the resources sector. Drawing upon landscape architecture, anthropology, and geography, my work has focused on cultural heritage, Indigenous partnerships, World Heritage, cultural mapping, oral history, environmental planning, and major infrastructure. More recently, I have worked with organisations to integrate Indigenous knowledge into governance, planning, and project delivery while building enduring relationships with Traditional Owners and Indigenous communities.
I have held academic and leadership appointments across Australia, Canada, and the United States, and have served as a Research Associate in Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History since 2011. In 2019, I received an Endeavour Executive Leadership Award from the Australian Government to undertake executive leadership development in Indigenous placemaking at the University of Virginia’s Center for Cultural Landscapes.
This website brings together more than twenty-five years of projects, publications, photography, fieldwork, and reflections. Whether you are a colleague, student, researcher, Traditional Owner, employer, or simply interested in landscapes and Indigenous knowledge, I hope you find something here that informs your own work and way of seeing.
I hold a PhD in Geography from McGill University, a Master of Landscape Architecture (Research), a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture with First Class Honours, and a Bachelor of Design Studies, all from the University of Adelaide.
scott@scottheyes.com | © Dr Scott A. Heyes 2024




