Closing the Gap Between Research, Education, and Practice by Co-creating and Disseminating Knowledge: The Role of Citizen Scientists, Researchers in Residence, and Student Business (Re-)Designers

Universities are increasingly expected to provide societal value beyond academic capacities, and are more and more evaluated based on their ability to contribute to solving (wicked) business challenges. This societal value agenda is particularly demanded by a society that turns to business schools for solutions to such challenges. This chapter describes three initiatives developed at Copenhagen Business School that together ensure for collaboration between research, education, and practice. First, we present the civic researcher project, where an individual citizen (i.e., a practitioner with a business background, in a senior position, and with an interest in academically examining issues of interest to businesses) collaborated on a research project for 6-12 months. The citizen conducted scientific activities under the supervision of the researcher, contributing with experience from own work and life. Second, the Researcher in Residence project describes how a marketing researcher collaborates with a company to conduct design science, that is, implementing state-of-the-art research to improve management practice. Finally, we describe the “student as business re-designer project” where students design solutions to (wicked) business challenges during their master’s thesis project. The three projects let academia, practice, and students close ranks through a novel approach that helps strengthen the ties between students, scholars, and practitioners.