This paper introduces a model for collaborative working to facilitate knowledge mobilisation in public health. The model has been developed by university researchers who worked collaboratively with public health commissioners and strategic partners to evaluate a portfolio of short-term funded interventions to inform re-commissioning. Within this model we identify the contextual factors of partnerships that influenced what it was possible to achieve within evaluations, the nature of evaluation findings (knowledge) and the ways this knowledge was mobilised. We propose that even when partnerships are specifically developed to foster collaboration and co-produce knowledge, these are not easily achievable or desirable outcomes.