Teng is a frequent participant in research projects focusing on the aboriginal tribes. For example, in an Academia Sinica study that ran from 1992 to 1996 and focused on the cultural and kinship ties between Taiwan's nine main aboriginal tribes, Teng helped to study the Thao and the Pazeh (a plains-dwelling tribe).
鄧相揚也經常參與有關原住民的研究計畫，像中研院民國八十一到八十五年的一個主題研究計畫：研究九大族之間的血緣、文化關係，其中邵族與巴則海族（平埔族的一支）的部分，就是鄧相揚協助完成的。