Incentives for sustainability in research–practice partnerships

Purpose School–University Partnerships (SUPs), particularly those organised as Research–Practice Partnerships (RPPs), are increasingly promoted as strategies for strengthening the relevance, quality and societal value of educational research. Despite their growing prominence, many such partnerships struggle to achieve long-term sustainability. This article conceptualises incentives as a central, yet under-theorised, dimension of sustainability in SUPs. Design/methodology/approach The article offers a conceptual analysis drawing on international RPP literature and documented experiences from the Swedish ULF (Education, Learning, Research) infrastructure. While analytically distinguishing between practitioners and researchers to clarify roles, incentives and epistemic positions, it does not assume a fixed dichotomy between these groups. The conceptual analysis draws on published research, evaluations, reports and policy documents related to ULF, to explore how incentive structures interact in practice. Findings The analysis demonstrates how individual, organisational and system-level incentives interact and how misalignments among these levels may undermine the development of shared epistemic objects necessary for long-term, cumulative knowledge building. A key contribution is the elaboration of the concept of a democratic, shared incentive: a collectively structured commitment to knowledge production that extends beyond individual or organisational interests and supports peer-reviewed scientific work grounded in professional needs. Originality/value By foregrounding incentives as epistemic and democratic conditions for sustainability, the article contributes to international and comparative discussions on how RPPs can be designed and sustained as long-term, collective knowledge-building infrastructures across diverse educational systems.