In European coastal zone management, the ‘Ecosystem Approach’ has become a central governing principle potentially fostering new forms of participatory management. But, how can interdisciplinary research rigorously grasp changing configurations of stakeholders and science/knowledge which this invites - especially when complex debates on climate change additionally demand new forms of science/knowledge and new governing approaches? The interdisciplinary project ECOGOV (LabEx COTE, University of Bordeaux) proposes a new integrated inter-disciplinary framework to grasp these transforming science-politics ‘coupling practices’. The framework emerges from a ‘state of the art’ review of natural and political science theories: i) on relations between scientists, user knowledge holders and policy makers; ii) on ecosystem based management and stakeholder participation; iii) on climate change challenges for science and policy. The framework identifies four sets of dynamic ‘coupling practice’: i) acquisition, ii) aggregation, iii) articulation, iv) accumulation. More specifically to define coastal zone problems, science/knowledge must be acquired. Studying acquisition (i) enables research to identify which scientific/knowledge sources are perceived as ‘authoritative’, and why. Once different sciences/knowledges (e.g., ecological, economic, societal) are acquired, they must be aggregated. Studying aggregation (ii) reveals how compromises are reached over coastal zone futures and why some sciences/knowledges ‘win out’ when setting instruments. How actors legitimise choices made and communicate these in public arena can be grasped through studying articulation (iii). Coastal futures and coupling practices are accumulated over time. Studying accumulation (iv) reveals their broader consequences both for science/knowledge and participatory management. This framework will be applied to cases where participatory management takes place (ie, setting up of a marine park or implementation of the EU marine strategy directive). The poster will illustrate the originality of this framework for grasping iterative participatory management.