Equal Opportunities International

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a corrections–academic partnership that works, the essential factors that influence its success and productivity, and how this partnership builds the capacity to conduct research on corrections issues.

Design/methodology/approach – A case study design was used. The corrections–academic partnership has been in existence for five years.

Findings – Over the five years, the partnership has yielded over a dozen peer-reviewed publications and another half dozen under review, five policy reports, and over $3 million in external funding by the academic partner and over $6 million by the corrections partner. By working together, partners develop parallel procedures for conducting and facilitating research, strategic networks and resources that foster research, and the ability to write competitive applications for external funding.

Research limitations/implications – Findings are based on a single partnership but they are consistent with the broader literature on practice–academic collaborations. Practice–academic partnerships have the potential to build and strengthen the infrastructure that supports research, as well as the capacity to conduct it independently within practice and research settings.

Practical implications – Collaborative partnership between practice and academic units can work; they can work in ways that develop and diffuses evidence while building infrastructure and capacity. When collaborations work, they are synergistic.

Originality/value – Provides clarity about the benefits of collaboration.