This article examines how a research partnership between a university-based research centre and a regional health authority operated as a context for promoting and examining continuous learning in the workplace. The article identifies and explores the issues and questions that emerged in the effort to establish a stable and supportive research environment that made use of others' talents and insights while attempting to flatten knowledge bases and to sustain critical dialogue. The article concludes that while the research partnership between university and workplace can operate effectively, those embarking on such partnerships might well consider the following questions. How does one cultivate shared ownership? How does one create and sustain communities of inquiry? How does one work difference? How does one maintain a sense of partnership beyond individual projects?