Researchers and practitioners continue their quest to achieve research to operations (R2O) success, yet consistent and scalable transition into operational hydrology remains limited. Persistent barriers, including technical integration challenges, competing priorities, funding constraints, and gaps in workforce skills and partner engagement, continue to inhibit progress despite growing emphasis on use-inspired science. This session will highlight advances in R2O across the hydrologic enterprise, spanning academia, government, and the private sector, including efforts led by NOAA, USGS, and CIROH, among others. We seek contributions that examine the full R2O lifecycle, from problem formulation and co-development to evaluation and sustained operational implementation. Of particular interest are case studies demonstrating successful transition to forecasting systems or decision support tools, applications of artificial intelligence and remote sensing for flood and drought prediction, and models for building effective public–private partnerships. Contributions addressing workforce development and training to build R2O capacity are also encouraged.