Adam Seth Levine is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Agora Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, affiliated with the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on civic engagement, the science of collaboration in civic life, and the intersection of science and democracy. Levine's work explores why people become involved in civic and political life, and how people with diverse forms of expertise collaborate to improve communities they care about. He is also the president and co-founder of research4impact, a nonprofit organization that connects researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
Levine's work on the science of collaboration in civic life, including scientist-government collaboration, is further explored in his new book "Collaborate Now! How Expertise Becomes Useful in Civic Life.” This book delves deeper into the factors that facilitate successful collaborative relationships. It examines how relationality and other factors can help bridge cultural divides and lead to more effective collaboration (both informal and formal) to address public issues.
JL: What originally inspired you to focus your research on civic engagement and the psychological barriers to political action?
Levine: My initial research was inspired by a core challenge I observed in organizing new constituencies: persuading people to voluntarily spend money and/or time on a cause. I became fascinated by a tension I noticed - many political issues directly refer to financial and time constraints that people are experiencing, but being reminded of these constraints actually diminishes people's willingness to voluntarily spend resources. This paradox intrigued me and led me to explore new psychological barriers that can hinder civic engagement and political action. I wanted to understand why people sometimes don't get involved in issues that directly affect them, and how we might overcome these barriers to foster more active civic participation.
During this time, I also identified a desire among researchers and nonprofit practitioners for new collaborative relationships that weren’t forming on their own. This realization inspired me and my two co-founders to create research4impact, bridging the divide between academic expertise and community expertise.
JL: What were the initial goals you hoped to achieve through research4impact?
Levine: We aimed to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world application by fostering meaningful collaboration between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. First, we created an online platform that would facilitate knowledge exchange and project partnerships focused on addressing pressing societal issues. Our idea was that people from these different sectors would build profiles and then reach out to others to initiate new collaborative relationships.
Yet when we first launched research4impact, we encountered unexpected challenges in fostering collaborations. Although 388 people built profiles, only seven actually reached out to someone else in the network. Intrigued by the initial enthusiasm followed by silence from researchers and practitioners alike, I dug deeper. What emerged was surprising: even though the people who joined had overcome so many common barriers to forming new collaborative relationships – they had available resources, they had expressed interest, and they had taken advantage of an opportunity – they were held back by invisible relational concerns. They worried about how to initiate conversations or whether they might be perceived as bothersome. Additionally, operational questions loomed large. Organizations grappled with uncertainties about formalizing partnerships and compensating researchers. Researchers grappled with uncertain expectations as well. These findings revealed that despite mutual interest, significant barriers still existed in bridging the gap between research and practice. This insight was crucial in shaping our approach to facilitating more comfortable collaboration moving forward.
JL: How did your research influence the operations of research4impact?
Levine: The realization that communication barriers were hindering the formation of new collaborative relationships, even among people who were clearly willing and able in other ways, led to a significant evolution of research4impact. We launched version 2.0, introducing hands-on matchmaking to address these challenges. Now, my team and I conduct preliminary scope calls with stakeholders before any matchmaking occurs. These calls allow us to more understand their needs and goals. We then guide stakeholders in articulating their objectives so that they use language likely to resonate with potential collaborators. It's crucial to differentiate between various approaches to collaborative relationships. These range from informal partnerships focused on knowledge sharing to formal collaborations centered on research projects. One big thing we learned from the initial research4impact experience is that we need to explicitly give people space to articulate informal and/or formal collaboration goals during these scope calls.
We then advertise these needs via a newsletter while we also work behind the scenes to identify ideal matches. By facilitating direct connections between non-profits, policymakers, and scientists, we've created a more effective ecosystem for collaboration, ensuring that expertise is shared and utilized more efficiently across sectors. In our first three years of doing hands-on matchmaking, we had 128 requests for informal collaboration and 73 requests for formal collaboration. 88.6% of our requesters said that their initial interactions provided information that was helpful to their goals. Among those interested in the possibility of a formal research project, 57% began one. This is fantastic, especially given all of the challenges associated with establishing a new collaborative relationship and then also agreeing on timelines and goals for a new project. Our results compare very favorably to other similar initiatives that I’m aware of.
What I learned from our initial iteration, and its subsequent version 2.0, can be found in "Collaborate Now! How Expertise Becomes Useful in Civic Life." This explores the nuanced interplay between diverse forms of expertise, including research-based expertise, community-based expertise, and others. The book examines how relational dynamics and communication strategies can transform abstract expertise into practical solutions for civic challenges. The book also offers a pragmatic guide for researchers, policymakers, community leaders, and other decision-makers, showing how to forge effective connections that leverage diverse forms of knowledge to address complex societal issues.
JL: Can you describe the research process you undertook to gather information for 'Collaborate Now! How Expertise Becomes Useful in Civic Life'?"
Levine: For my book, I conducted numerous interviews, surveys, and randomized controlled trials that revealed how there can be this unmet desire to collaborate, what barriers lead to it being unmet, and how to overcome them. Our experiences with offering hands-on matchmaking clearly demonstrated that research4impact members really did want new collaboration, but they needed someone who could overcome collaborators’ uncertainty about how to relate to each other (what I refer to as “relationality” in the book); and also someone who would give them space to articulate goals for informal outreach and/or formal partnerships.
My research extended into policymaking spheres as well. For instance, I conducted a nationwide survey of local policymakers and found that 74% had not engaged with any local researchers over the past year to talk about policy challenges they are facing in their communities, yet 57% expressed a desire for more opportunities to do so. These insights underscored the widespread interest in cross-sector collaboration, while also revealing the misconceptions and uncertainties that often prevent such collaborative relationships from forming.
JL: How would you suggest researchers and subject matter experts get involved with the community and local government?
Levine: One way is the “self-service” method – researchers can initiate their own contact, for instance by attending open meetings of the county legislature and speaking during “privilege of the floor” and similar open sessions to offer their expertise. While national politics may seem intimidating and/or divorced from everyday community needs, local policymakers actively seek community input and expertise. Your knowledge and perspective can significantly influence local policy decisions. By taking that first step, you're not just sharing your expertise; you're contributing to more informed, community-centered governance. All of that said, I realize that some are more comfortable engaging and/or able to engage in this kind of “self-service”, and so another fantastic strategy is to reach out to third-party organizations (like ESAL, or research4impact, or the American Association for the Advancement of Science) which explicitly offer to create new collaborative relationships at the local level.
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