Developing a clear and shared vision: An industry-research-higher education partnership approach

The Fire and Emergency Service (FES) industry continue to invest heavily in research, and in efforts to enhance the utilisation of relevant research in ways that inform policy and practice. As part of the research utilisation agenda, the industry has identified a need for the integration of research into educational offerings and to ensure those educational offerings meet the needs of industry. Some progress has been made in this regard, however, more needs to be done. Simultaneous to the interest in research utilisation, the industry is considering the issue of professionalisation. An important part of the professionalisation agenda for FES is the education and training underpinning the various aspects of the industry, and the nexus between research, higher education and industry. While the industry has a solid research agenda and a good grasp of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, the industry has identified that it would benefit from a clearer understanding of the potential role of higher education and, how best to achieve a nexus between research, higher education and the industry.Led by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council (AFAC), the FES industry identified an opportunity to foster a culture of professionalisation supported by a strong nexus between research, higher education and industry. This presentation reports on the joint CQUniversity Australia-AFAC exploratory project, which looked at industry workforce capability needs, current education offerings, the gap between needs and offerings, and from the resulting analysis, opportunities for industry, vocational education, higher education and research to come together. Using a case study approach (Creswell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdale, 2016) and an interpretivist lens (Creswell, 2013) three themes emerged from the thematic analysis (Bernard & Ryan, 2010). The three themes of a) translation, b) capacity building, and c) collaboration emerged as central to understanding a potential FES research-higher education–industry partnership and to areas that would require the attention of both industry and higher education moving forward. The nexus project represented a significant step, and one that set the scene for future industry-education research opportunities that have the potential to transform the Australian FES landscape. As a result of the nexus project, the next steps, in the form of a CQUniversity Australia-Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) research partnership are already being realised. In combination, the nexus project and subsequent CQUniversity-QFES project are paving the way for a first of its kind national research project.Bernard, H. R., & Ryan, G. W. (2010). Analyzing qualitative data: systematic approaches California: Sage Publications.Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: SageMerriam, S. B., & Tisdale, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). San Francisco Jossey-Bass.