Bridging the gap: Lingering challenges and current strategies for academic-practitioner collaboration in emergency...

The practitioner-academic gap in the emergency management and disaster research space has been much discussed. Enrico Quarantelli, a pillar in the field of disaster research, in his paper Converting Disaster Scholarship into Effective Disaster Planning and Managing, remarked about his desire to see more practical implications for his work. The paper, published in 1993, was written during a time when few emergency management degree programs existed (save for, in 1994, the University of North Texas, Thomas Edison State College, and Rochester Institute of Technology) and before the modern homeland security era helped establish such stalwarts as the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, and others. Much has changed since then in the way of academic/practitioner collaboration and in bridging the gap between higher education and practice. According to the 2023 Federal Emergency Management Agency Higher Education State of the Community: Annual Survey and Report, there are approximately 126 higher-education emergency management-related programs (with an estimated 88,000 graduates), and an expectation from 70 percent of the programs that responded to the 2023 annual survey that they will see an increase in enrollment over the next 3 years. Simultaneously, there has been an explosion in pure emergency management organizations (and also responsibilities) and so-called "pracademics." But the struggle continues. In this essay, the history of the practitioner-higher-education divide will be reviewed, followed by a discussion of modern challenges and perceived best practices, which the authors feel will help assist the field moving forward.