Maximising the potential of academic–practitioner collaborations in international development

Abstract

A call to action has been issued for cross-sector partnerships such as academic–practitioner collaborations to develop evidence-based solutions to address development challenges. This study investigated correlations between factors such as motivation, involvement in co-creation of research, usability of research outputs and past partnering experiences with the future participation in such collaborations. Using survey data from members of the LASER PULSE Consortium, we not only present empirical evidence on the mismatch of expectations between academics and practitioners but also recommend a framework to maximise the potential of such collaborations by understanding value propositions and managing partnering experience.