Research in Residence: Addressing Community Challenges Through University-Government Collaboration

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The need for scientific and research capabilities to help address challenges facing communities has never been greater. From preparing workers for STEM jobs, to growing opioid usage, to the impact of new modes of transportation, the challenges facing society are only growing. Yet local government and other community organizations lack access to research teams who can help inform solutions. This project aims to test a novel methodology called Research in Residence (RIR), whereby local and state government offices or agencies competitively select the most qualified research teams to help address critical community-identified needs. These teams, supported with short-term funding provided by the participating government, work collaboratively with their government partner to carry out initial research activities. The academic-government partners additionally define longer-term research objectives and questions, schedule of activities, cost, and develop a path to securing full-funding for the identified activities through local or other support. Three primary barriers inhibit research with communities: 1) ineffective matching of community needs with academia; 2) unstructured engagement practices; and 3) complexity of supporting the research activities. Currently, there is no streamlined mechanism for government staff to locate researchers who can assist them and conversely for researchers to identify the right party within municipalities with whom to engage. If a match does occur, the lack of a structured engagement model reduces the likelihood of successful outcomes. These difficulties have led government entities to either rely on voluntary academic research or to push the burden of securing funding to universities. This project will utilize a new approach for linking researchers with communities, unlocking potential benefits to researchers who gain access to personnel and resources to address pressing community needs, communities who benefit from impactful research-based solutions, and funding entities who benefit from a set of well-developed, use-inspired research ideas.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.