The Future of Collaborative Crisis Research

This chapter first summarizes how academic theories and theory-based research can inform crisis communication. It then highlights how practitioners can use, inform, and strengthen academic theories and research. After reviewing collaborative research practice and emerging models, we define and recommend collaborative crisis research as a university research group (URG)-based approach for crisis scholars and practitioners to work together to (1) examine complex and challenging issues and (2) generate knowledge that enhances overall crisis communication effectiveness. In light of practitioner-identified critical crisis research areas and based on recommendations from collaboration literature, we propose a small-scale, two-way collaborative URG model as a promising pathway for future collaborative crisis research. Three elements are the key to its success: (1) people: crisis scholars and practitioners who share the research interest and are willing to engage in interactive research activities; (2) resource: research funding to support the proposed activities; and (3) collaborative system: a sustainable infrastructure within the URG that supports and incentivizes impactful research. We believe this concerted approach will help advance crisis communication theory and practice, addressing shared needs for both academia and industry.