How can researchers engage and co-develop care economy research partnerships? Insights from the Australian care service leaders.

Background: The care economy is among the fastest expanding sectors worldwide, worth globally over $11trillion. In Australia the health and social care sectors grew by over 50% employing over 13.8 million people in 2024. This study analyses sector perspectives of challenges and practical actions to support this explosive growth. The care economy supports health and wellbeing across the lifespan and is essential to both economic growth and social equity. In Australia, the demand for care services is growing, yet the sector still faces significant challenges, such as fragmented funding, workforce shortages, and limited collaboration between service providers, care participants and researchers. A gap remains in understanding what frontline organisations need from research, and how stronger, more effective collaborative research partnerships can be built and strengthened. Methods: This study used an interpretive-descriptive qualitative approach to explore the research priorities, collaboration needs, and barriers faced by care economy organisations across Australia. Between December 2024 and May 2025, semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom with 21 leaders from aged care, disability, health, and community services. All the participants were members of La Trobe University's Care Economy Collaborative Network (CECN) or individuals who had expressed an interest in the work being conducted by Care Economy Research Institute (CERI) at La Trobe University. Thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo Results: Participants highlighted challenges such as workforce shortages, under investment in training, disjointed data systems, and funding models that often create competition instead of encouraging collaboration. They also highlighted clear inequalities depending on location, especially for rural and culturally diverse communities. There was strong interest in research that is practical, co-designed with services, and grounded in real-world needs. Participants said they need more support to get involved in research, more balanced partnerships, and a greater focus on research that can applied into practice. Conclusion: Organisations across the care economy face common challenges like workforce shortages, burnout, limited funding, and fragmented data systems. While there is strong interest in using research to improve services, many providers lack the time and resources to engage effectively. Collaboration is often hampered by competition for funding, siloed sectors and a disconnect between research and frontline needs. Rural and culturally diverse communities face extra barriers, highlighting the need for place-based approaches. Strengthening partnerships, investing in workforce development, and focusing on practical, co-designed research including people with lived experience will be critical to driving meaningful improvements across the care economy. This study synthesises perspectives across aged care, disability, community health, and policy, offering a novel contribution cross-sector map of shared bottlenecks rarely analysed together. We translate themes into system-level actions to support ongoing care-economy reform in Australia.