The research-practice gap in emergency services in England: expanding or contracting?

Tools

Murphy, P. ORCID: 0000-0001-8459-4448, Wankhade, P. and Lakoma, K. ORCID: 0000-0002-2583-3813, 2021. The research-practice gap in emergency services in England: expanding or contracting? In: The JUC PAC Annual Conference 2021: How Place Matters? Leadership, Governance and Public Administration, De Montfort University, Leicester, 7-8 September 2021.

Presentation
1469951_Murphy.pptx - Presentation
Download (338kB)

Abstract

In the 2012 launch edition of the International Journal of Emergency Services (IJES), the authors published the first contribution to the journal which was entitled “Bridging the theory and practise gap in emergency services research: the case for a new journal” (Wankhade & Murphy 2012). As implied by its title, this inaugural editorial suggested that part of the rationale underpinning the new journal was the apparent ‘gap’ and silo ‘approach’ in academic publishing and consequentially the fragmented nature of the emergency services research. This alleged academic ‘gap’ had previously been articulated in some detail in the original proposals for the establishing the journal.

“Emergency function resides with a host of agencies including the three “blue light” services (police, fire and ambulance). IJES is an opportunity to publish up‐to‐date and original research contributions for the benefit of scholars, policy makers and practitioners in these areas, including the interface of policy and practice at national, regional and global level” (Wankhade & Murphy 2012 p4).

The journal was to “welcome articles examining the theory and practice of the strategic and operational management of emergency services and the related professional and policy aspects”.

The purpose of this paper, which is being prepared to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Journal is simply to revisit the alleged gap between research and practice in the three emergency services. At every conference, workshop or event that the authors have attended since that date (including attendance at every annual PAC conference), and notwithstanding whether the event was intended for a practitioner or for an academic audience, one implicit, but more often explicit, objective of our contributions has been to help to transcend this alleged gap. Adopting and adapting a mapping model developed by Dudau, Korac and Saliterer (2015) for the international investigation of a research-practice gap in accounting, that was subsequently published as ‘The Research Practise Gap on Accounting in the Public Services’ (Ferry et al 2019,) we will look initially at the state of engagement in the three emergency services in 2012 and compare this to the current situation.

The paper therefore presents some initial evidence and interpretations which, we hope, will form the basis for debate and for more detailed investigation at a later stage. Our initial purpose is to test the model to see if it needs any refinement when applied to the emergency services in the UK.

Item Type:

Conference contribution

Creators:

Murphy, P., Wankhade, P. and Lakoma, K.

Date:

September 2021

Identifiers: