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The Network for Business Sustainability (NBS, nbs.net) is building resources to help academics co-create knowledge with practitioners.

Our premise: Intractable sustainability issues require problem solvers to come together. Practitioners and researchers can bring complementary insights to co-create knowledge for sustainability impact.

Despite its promise, knowledge co-creation with practitioners is neither easy nor incentivized. NBS seeks to help researchers navigate the path of co-creation more easily - by learning from each other and sharing challenges and advice.

Last March, NBS asked the academic community what resources would be helpful. Since then, we've been working to create these resources. Researchers focused on topics outside sustainability may find them useful as well.

Resources include:

·         How to Teach Engaged Scholarship: Andy Van de Ven. When does website for a research methods course get 30,000 hits? When the course shows how to make research rigorous and relevant.

·         How to be Vulnerable: Arne Carlsen on Relational Reflexivity in Research. When researchers treat their "subjects" as peers, greater insights result. Arne Carlsen describes how to build relationships into research.

·         How to Publish Research Co-created with Practitioners: Advice from Editors. Collaborations between researchers and managers can produce insight and impact, but publication can be difficult. Top editors advise on the path to print.

·         Video: Involving Practitioners as Knowledge Partners. Hear directly from four scholars who have worked with practitioners to co-create knowledge. They share benefits, challenges, and practical tips.

·         How to Maintain Productive Tensions. In this blog and video, researcher Jean Bartunek describes how the different perspectives of managers and researchers can spark learning.

·         You Said, We Listened: What Resources Can Bridge the Research-Practice Gap. Here's what we heard from our survey. We received 35 responses that carefully laid out the key issues and provided practical suggestions for the kind of resources needed.

See more resources here: https://nbs.net/p/help-us-help-you-bridge-research-and-practice-e8d20063-0a96-4663-b476-91082e3b25a4

And, we want to hear from you! Please contact us (gsharma@nbs.net) to share your feedback, experiences, and ideas. Hear about new resources by subscribing to our regular Researcher Updates

Garima Sharma

Lead, Co-creation Resources, Network for Business Sustainability

Assistant Professor, Anderson School of Management, University of New Mexico

About NBS

A non-profit established in 2005, the Network for Business Sustainability is a powerful and growing network of international academic experts and business. leaders. We operate in both English and in French, as Réseau entreprise et développement durable. NBS produces authoritative resources on important sustainability issues – with the goal of shaping management practice and research.