Humble and Helpful: Five Tips for Building Trust and Legitimacy in Researcher-Agency Collaborations

Researcher-agency collaborations in criminology and criminal justice are vital for advancing evidence-based policies, but often face challenges such as institutional resistance, resource constraints, and skepticism from both practitioners and academics. Here we present five strategies that scholars can use to build trust and legitimacy in these partnerships. We argue that researchers should: (1) approach collaborations with humility, valuing the insights of practitioners, (2) maintain objectivity by prioritizing evidence over personal (and even professional) biases, (3) align research priorities with agency goals to foster mutual respect and cooperation, (4) recommend incremental, practical changes rather than broad reforms, and (5) aim to foster long-term relationships. We also highlight the importance of securing institutional support, including curricular changes and professional development, to sustain these partnerships. Emphasizing the need to uphold scientific integrity in an evidence-based context, we aim to guide early-career scholars in addressing these challenges and enhancing the effectiveness of researcher-agency collaborations.