Civil security research often sees itself as a field of applied interdisciplinary research, which is oriented towards the needs of practitioners (organizations from police and non-police emergency response forces, operators of critical infrastructure). Unfortunately, it frequently happens that in the context of civil security research, the practitioner is only invited to join a research consortium shortly before the submission deadline. These short-term inquiries about possible project participation are often unsuccessful because practitioners (especially goverment authorities) have extensive hierarchies that may need to be involved in advance. Practitioners in research projects generally pursue the goal of meeting their research needs, which arise from their daily work/tasks. Practitioners contribute their needs and experiences to the projects. In addition, they evaluate the research results achieved and provide feedback to the researchers. Get in touch with practitioners early on, preferably six months before a submission deadline, to better understand practitioner needs and target your research project accordingly.

If you are interested in launching a research or innovation project with practitioners, ForAn will help you to find the right German practitioner. Please feel free to contact us.