them, they were not able to identify academics working on this yet. Thus, interview data revealed that evidence needs are largely practical and pragmatic, with less interest in theoretical insights. The role of expert knowledge The importance of practical insights from the field was also highlighted regarding the Platform on Statelessness events. One interviewee explained, for instance, that inviting academics to the Platform events provides an added value to the conference, for instance, as keynote speakers, because it “allows practitioners to know what the academic research has said”, however, practitioner’s knowledge is preferred in the technical discussions (interviewee 13). Similarly, another interviewee stated that while their organization is working closely with academics, which can be beneficial, it depends on how the research is done, and that “sometimes academics are not in the field, and this is also sometimes very problematic”. While they agree that academics produce important knowledge on statelessness and bring valuable insights, “it’s not the same thing [as practitioners’ expertise]”. In addition, the knowledge of practitioners is seen as more relevant when it comes to identifying challenges and good practices in the field, while the knowledge of academic researchers comes in at the next step to work on issues related to standard setting and monitoring. Nevertheless, this respondent expressed interest in academic researchers participating in future events (interviewee 15). In addition, it has been mentioned that receiving insights on good practices and challenges from the field can also be easier without academic researchers around, as interviews revealed some mistrust towards academic researchers, which can be a hurdle for engagement. For instance, interviewee 15 mentioned that “This kind of informal platform [for] sharing of experience between technical experts is sometimes […] easier for them to speak […] out with one of their colleagues as well for other colleagues than to say it out loud in front of academics, because you never know how academics are going to use it” (interviewee 15). Similarly, one practitioner working on statelessness explains that they do fully trust academics working on statelessness, particularly because they worry about their intentions and potential Russian propaganda (interviewee 16). To sum up, although the value of academic research was recognized by interviewees, the findings suggest that evidence needs are quite practically driven by an interest in insights from the field. This resonates with research showing that academic research no longer holds the dominant position in knowledge production, with the expertise of practitioners and other experts becoming increasingly influential (Natter & Welfens, 2024). 27