Leveraging Research-Policy-Practice Partnerships for Meaningful Social Change for Children

Background on the Topic: Research, policymaking, and practice are disconnected sectors frequently siloed and operating in isolation. Evidence exists that research-policy-practice partnerships can produce empirically supported policies and practices that can promote social change. One specific area this may be effective is in prevention child maltreatment and promoting child wellbeing. It is estimated to take 17 years from the time of scientific discovery to changes in policy and practice (Morris, Wooding, & Grant, 2011). This means that studies' implications and recommendations reported today may not be fully actualized for almost two decades. Research-policy-practice partnerships can radically shorten the time that research findings can impact policy and practice. Through ensuring that researchers conduct policy and practice-relevant studies developed in partnership with policymakers and practitioners, it is possible to have studies' implications directly impact policy and practice. To make this a reality, research-policy-practice partnerships must be developed. Perspectives Discussed: The facilitators will briefly share empirical and theoretical work on research-policy-practice partnerships. We describe how exorbitant amounts of money have been invested to create research evidence and to incentivize the use of such research evidence, significant gaps remain between research, policy, and practice in child welfare and other child and family serving sectors. In order to eliminate this 'research waste' where investments in research are not actualized (Oliver & Boaz, 2019), we argue a strategic shift must occur to prioritize research-policy-practice partnerships. The shift is not without challenges, and we will explore the barriers researchers face when collaborating with policymakers and practitioners and vice versa. The heart of the roundtable is a discussion among participants that focus on addressing the following questions posed to participants: -How have you collaborated with policymakers and practitioners? -What has worked well for you in disseminating your research to practitioners and legislators? -What barriers have you experienced in collaborating and/or disseminating research to other sectors? -In what ways can we incentivize research-policy-practice partnerships within the academy? The roundtable will include sharing ideas and experience as well as resources to develop research-policy-practice partnerships. The facilitators of the roundtable have various experiences of working in research-practice-policy partnerships. They are all researchers and hold different experiences as practitioners in agencies and in working with policy.