How We Work - Our Land & Water - Toitū te Whenua, Toiora te Wai

Our Land and Water is a collaborative, transdisciplinary science programme. Our research brings together scientists, innovators, producers, communities, iwi and industry stakeholders

We collaborate

Successful collaboration is at the heart of the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge. Kaitiakitanga (collective guardianship) and shared responsibility is necessary for the long-term wellbeing of land and water in Aotearoa.

We bring together the right research teams from a range of disciplines, from across universities, all the Crown Research Institutes, and many businesses, iwi and Māori groups, government and non-government organisations, private citizens and regional councils. This approach breaks down barriers between disciplines, research organisations and individual scientists.

We have a formal collaborative relationship with 16 key parties.

We apply a te ao Māori perspective and, in partnership, seek to integrate Māori mātauranga (knowledge), systems and practices into all Challenge research.

We involve industry

Our research is connected to end-users from the very beginning.

Stakeholders, including regional councils, iwi and hapū businesses and entities, businesses and industry bodies, are collaborators and co-innovators in all of our research design and implementation. Half of the journal publications our researchers have published have stakeholders as coauthors.

Our Pathways to Transition research is increasing the capability of scientists to collaborate and co-design research with industry, changing the way we do science to accelerate uptake.

We expect this to result in science that is robust, trusted, and more quickly adopted and shared.

We involve communities

Most of our research projects seek to involve an affected community, through workshops, meetings, presentations, surveys, communication or education.

To achieve our goals, we also work to grow public understanding of land and water science and the principles of kaitiakitanga.

We also seek to build capability for future science and industry leadership.

We're flexible

We review our overall strategy biennially, adjusting our research focus to respond to economic, political, market and other changes. These adjustments are informed by The Matrix of Drivers, and our Research Landscape Map and Strategy Landscape Map.

Our approach allows our researchers and partners to evolve research ideas while maintaining the security of multi-year funding, and ensuring that the focus is on high impact, relevant science. All programmes are reviewed annually to ensure their research is relevant and will create change.