Johns Hopkins Nexus grants bring expertise, energy to Hopkins Bloomberg Center
The program supports event programs, research, and teaching anchored at the university’s Washington, D.C., building
In the past year, the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center has hosted convenings drawing the nation’s top thinkers on using AI to improve mental health, preventing child sexual abuse, and a bipartisan approach to building trust in our elections.
Each of these events was made possible by the university’s Nexus Awards program. The program, launched in 2023, supports convening, research, and teaching anchored at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center.
“The Nexus Award was an opportunity to bring together different people across the university that we don’t normally get to do because we work in our own schools in silos,” said Emily Haroz, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Fostering dialogue
Haroz, who won a Nexus Award to host a one-day conference on using AI to prevent deaths of despair, was one of nearly 150 award recipients in 2024. The previous year, 102 scholars and researchers were selected for the funding.
There are three categories of awards:
- Convening: Awards up to $100,000 for up to one year for the development and execution of a conference or a series of related events on any topic held at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center.
- Research: Awards up to $300,000 for up to two years, focusing on either a new area of collaborative work or an expansion of an ongoing area of collaborative work in fundamental, clinical, or applied research, or projects within the arts and humanities.
- Teaching: Awards up to $25,000 for up to one year (with the option to renew for a second year) for undergraduate or graduate courses and co-curricular opportunities that will make significant use of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center.
“Nexus Awards help propel the ideas, scholarship, and pedagogy of our faculty in exciting directions,” Provost Ray Jayawardhana said when the second round of Nexus grants were announced. “I am eager to see their insights and discoveries brought to life at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center, fostering dialogue and enhancing impact in the heart of the nation’s capital.”
Narges Bajoghli co-leads a Nexus program examining the effectiveness of economic sanctions.
“This grant provides a unique opportunity to bring together a wide array of scholars, policymakers, and experts to explore how sanctions affect societies worldwide and whether reform is necessary,” she said. “It’s a chance to engage in meaningful dialogue and shape future policy, and I’m honored to be part of this important work.”
D.C. presence
For Haroz, the Hopkins Bloomberg Center’s location, just blocks from the U.S. Capitol, is a key aspect of the Nexus Awards.
“The Nexus Award offers us the foundation to leverage this building and the ability to be right near the Capitol,” she said. “We can connect in ways that we don’t get to in Baltimore.”
The convening she hosted featured a speaker from the Department of Health and Human Services, while other Nexus events have drawn ambassadors, authors, and elected officials.
“With this second cohort of Nexus Award winners, we are building on the momentum underway at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center,” Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels said, “as faculty from across Johns Hopkins convene policymakers and the public, embark on innovative research, and inspire our students to engage society’s greatest challenges.”