Managing industry-academia partnerships

Abstract

This paper addresses the complexity of industry-academia research partnerships which include students in tripartite management research activities. The context for the paper is “Education about and for sustainability in Australian Business Schools”, a project undertaken by several Australian universities in collaboration with the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES, 2009) and funded by the Department of the Environment and Heritage (now the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts). The focus of the ARIES collaboration was on Partnering Corporations and Business Schools, providing an opportunity to explore issues of sustainability from a Business School perspective and engage in practical partnerships with industry. This paper develops a model for handling the research-practice gaps which may exist in industry-academia research partnerships that include students as participants. It is proposed that the action learning process facilitates the planning and learning through action, narrative and reflection, and has the potential to bridge the practice/research gap.