Bridging Theory and Practice in an Era of Crises and Complexity: A Science Communication Approach to Academic–Practitioner Engagement

This paper explores the persistent gap between academic theory and real-world practice, arguing that effective, bidirectional communication is essential to bridging this divide, particularly during times of uncertainty and crisis. Drawing from the authors’ experiences in health, medicine, and communications, and informed by the science communication literature, this paper presents a practical framework rooted in three elements: communicator, communication strategies, and audience to highlight how academics can minimize the “intent-impact” gap of their work by translating complex ideas into clear, actionable insights that can be used by practitioners and decision-makers. This paper suggests opportunities for applying these lessons to the field of administrative science, where similar tensions between institutional theory and practice may exist. Through comparative tables, real-world examples, and insights from recent crises such as COVID-19, this paper offers practical tools to support more engaged scholarship as well as adaptive knowledge exchange with feedback loops between and within disciplines, and between practitioners and academics. Ultimately, this paper issues a call to action for all academics, including those in administrative science. In order to remain responsive and relevant in today’s complex world, researchers and academics must embrace communication as a core part of their scholarly practice. This paper concludes by arguing that bridging the theory–practice divide is not just an academic challenge; it may also be a broader moral and institutional imperative.