Norwegian food system actors' perspectives on participating in a cross-sector research partnership: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Cross-sector partnerships are governance models that are increasingly used in policy, research and practice to address food systems challenges including unhealthy diets. Despite ongoing debates about their value, especially in research, there is limited knowledge on the experiences of participating in these partnerships. This study is set in Norway, a country with tradition for cross-sector collaboration. We examine the Norwegian cross-sector research partnership NewTools to explore participants' perspectives in an early project stage. The partnership comprises 28 actors from research institutions, food industry, civil society and government agencies, and aims to develop two food profiling models: one for nutrition and one for environmental and social sustainability. This study can help identify initial factors that can influence nutrition-related cross-sector collaboration processes. METHODS: We conducted qualitative interviews with 17 NewTools-participants in 2022. Interviews were analyzed with reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five themes were identified: (i) "The importance of being in the room" illustrated participants views on the benefits of cross-sector collaboration, including sharing expertise and influencing project outcomes. (ii) "Divergent expectations towards collaboration and project aims" reflected varying expectations towards partner involvement and the project outcomes among participants. (iii) "Viewpoints towards food profiling systems" highlighted differing viewpoints on two food profiling models to be developed, with more skeptical views towards the nutrition profiling model. (iv) "Power asymmetries and mistrust" suggested potential tensions and some preexisting mistrust among partners. (v) "Pragmatic approach to COI and conflict management" conveyed that conflicts were considered manageable components of cross-sector collaboration. CONCLUSIONS: In our study from an early project phase, participants described cross-sector collaboration as valuable and challenges as manageable. They also described potential tensions and mistrust between participants and diverging expectations towards roles and project objectives. These findings suggest that potential obstacles for collaboration were present in the project. This underscores the importance of investing time early in cross-sector research partnerships to clarify roles, align expectations and agree on project goals, which otherwise may turn into obstacles for collaboration between actors with varying mandates, interests, and expectations.