The key question underpinning the "National Security through Partnership" Fellowship is: how can we promote better engagement between National Security stakeholders - policy-makers and practitioners - and academia? The project divides into two phases, with the possibility of overlap to allow early gains to be made: Exploration (months 1-4): - Through series of interviews and workshops with stakeholders in Government, Academia and (if appropriate) Industry, we will establish an understanding and a critique of the existing arrangements for National Security engagement; relevant HMG CSAs and Global Uncertainties Fellows & Principal Investigators will represent an important source of insight here, as well as such centres as Imperial's Institute for Security Science & Technology, KCL's War Studies Department, St Andrew's Centre for the Study of Terrorism & Political Violence, Durham University's Global Security Institute, UCL's Jill Dando Institute of Crime & Security Science, and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies at Queen's University Belfast. - We will gather ideas and proposals for new and better mechanisms for engagement: seeking insight from social science knowledge being developed in, for instance, Cambridge University's Centre for Science & Policy and Centre for Business Research; looking at alternative models practiced by National Security allies overseas - eg American, Dutch and German; and learning from approaches taken by researchers working other public service sectors (such as DEFRA, BIS, DECC and the Department of Health); we hope to commission a literature review conducted by an MSc student at the Aberdeen Business School, supervised by Professor Adam Ogilvie-Smith; - An interim report will be produced as the first output, at the end of this phase, for a cross-section of opinion-formers in Government and Academia (including key players in the Global Uncertainties Programme), and this audience will be represented at a Workshop that considers the findings and discusses next steps; this workshop itself will represent an early pathway to impact, building networks and establishing a community with shared interests. Piloting (months 5-12); informed by lessons & insights from Phase 1, our Placement Fellow will: - Trial at least two pilots, which seek to deliver one or more of the following benefits: o ensuring that research & training is problem-based o linking research expertise to end-users through co-design, co-production and co-delivery of research o enabling end-users to support the transformation of early-stage research into products and services o more strategic co-operation between end-users and scholars leading to aligned activities with shared goals o shared horizon-scanning activities that identify and help end users to respond to emerging challenges. - Evaluate pilots and share lessons with wider National Security networks; one option is to discuss these at a William Pitt Security Seminar at Pembroke College, Cambridge; - In a final output, review and evaluate the project and produce recommendations for "Next Steps" in a final report, to include an application - if appropriate - for follow-up funds for CSaP to support future implementation.