Morris, RichardDavis, ShannonMaxwell, Te KahautuHata, HopeParuru, DannyCharters, StuartGregorini, Pablo2026-02-262026-02-262025-111172-6938https://hdl.handle.net/10289/17986In the eastern Bay of Plenty, where the land yields to the Pacific and the Waioeka and Ōtara Rivers meet Te Moana aToi (the Bay of Plenty), a research partnership is flourishing between Te Whakatōhea iwi, Lincoln University Centre of Excellence Designing Future Productive Landscape (DFPL), and Waikato University. This collaboration has grown over several years into a suite of multidisciplinary research projects focused on agricultural systems design, urban planning, and climate resilience. While distinct in their objectives, these research threads are united by a deeper, unavoidable theme: the interconnection between whenua (land), awa (river), and moana (sea). For Te Whakatōhea, these are not separate domains but a continuous space of identity, sustenance, and economy, an ethos that sits well with DFPL.enThis is an article from Coastal News: Newsletter of the New Zealand Coastal Society. © 2025 The New Zealand Coastal Society (NZCS). Used with permission.Other