Building and Maintaining Sustainable Research Partnerships in a Shifting Sociopolitical Context: Lessons from Long-term RPPs

• In Event: What Was, What’s Now, What’s Next: University-Based RPP Brokering in Shifting Institutional Contexts

Abstract

Objectives. Education systems face increasing pressures to respond to shifting policy landscapes, equity imperatives, and demands for applicable research. This proposal examines how organizations sustain research-practice partnerships (RPPs) over time amid the consistently shifting contexts of educational research, practice, and policy. Specifically, it analyzes the connections between RPPs' goals, funding, composition, and approaches to research (Farrell et al., 2021) and compares how longstanding RPPs have adapted over time regarding these dimensions of variation and RPP effectiveness.

Theoretical Framework. This study is grounded in adaptive leadership and RPP responsivity frameworks (Hefeitz et al., 2009; Arce-Trigatti et al, 2022), leveraged to understand how long-term RPPs evolve and sustain effectiveness across critical dimensions of RPPs (Farrell et al., 2021). Adaptive leadership models emphasize flexibility, continuous learning, and stakeholder engagement to address complex, adaptive challenges (Hefeitz et al., 2009). These frameworks help interpret how RPP leaders make decisions and mobilize stakeholders, adapting to challenging and complex situations and responding to partners by iteratively developing fundamental changes necessary to sustain the RPP. Additionally, Henrick et al.’s (2017) framework of RPP effectiveness is used as a lens to describe the alignment with goals and structures over time.

Modes of Inquiry. This study utilizes a qualitative multiple case study approach (Yin, 2018), conducting a comparative analysis across three RPPs situated in institutions of higher education in Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri. The analysis is guided by the adaptive leadership and responsivity frameworks, which facilitate the documentation and examination of how and why each RPP has evolved. We identify and compare variation in long-standing RPPs over time to understand the conditions, operations, and funding capacities that support or constrain RPP progress and effectiveness.

Data Sources. This study draws from a survey of RPP brokers and follow-up interviews with leaders of the three long-standing RPPs. In addition, documents, including year-end reviews, annual reports, budgets, staffing records, strategic plans, research projects, and dissemination products (both practical and scholarly), were collected from each RPP. These materials were analyzed to provide pivotal data on how the RPPs shifted in their goals, funding, composition, and research approaches and offer insights into why these changes occurred as the RPPs adapted for sustainability over time.

Findings. Preliminary findings indicate a strong link between goals, funding, composition, and research in RPPs. Utilizing an adaptive leadership approach can help sustain RPPs by productively responding to sociopolitical changes. RPPs that adopt an adaptive leadership model are better equipped to address pressures across multiple levels of educational systems, sustaining effective research-practice partnerships despite fluctuations in context.

Scholarly Significance. This research provides insights into RPP sustainability and offers lessons learned from longstanding RPPs. It proposes an adaptive framework for leading and sustaining RPPs, contributing to broader understanding of effective strategies for enduring educational research partnerships amidst evolving external conditions. Understanding the developmental trajectories of RPPs can highlight how trust, shared goals, values, and mutual/equitable capacity-building are cultivated and sustained to further this work (Cooper et al., 2021).

Authors

• Rachel Ruggirello, Washington University in St. Louis

• Laura Neergaard Booker, Vanderbilt University

• David Bryant Naff, Virginia Commonwealth University