Research

JHIPH launches and supports Planetary Health research hubs to amplify current work around a range of key topics, expand networks to include all divisions of JHU, and identify pathways for the translation of research into education curriculum, innovation opportunities, public communications, and transformational policy. We foster new transdisciplinary collaborations and support the development of funding proposals that reflect the needs and opportunities identified by the research hubs. Research Hubs are formed around Planetary Health topics that cannot be addressed by one department alone and that have a critical mass of interested participants from across JHU. New cross-university research hubs in air quality, infectious disease, and food systems have been formally launched to advance interdisciplinary research. 

Working groups in coastal resilience and environmental health and resilience are also underway.

Air Quality Research Hub

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In collaboration with the BREATHE Center and several additional initiatives, JHIPH has launched an Air Quality Research Hub to bring together researchers, graduate students, and others from across the university focused on the science, technology, policy, and health dimensions of air quality—from its sources and measurement to its effects and solutions.

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Food Systems Research Hub

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The Food Systems Research Hub facilitates interdisciplinary connections and collaborations, grows the evidence base surrounding connections between food systems and Planetary Health, and, ultimately, advances real world solutions to promote equitable and sustainable food systems that support population and Planetary Health. 

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Infectious Disease Research Hub

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The Infectious Disease Research Hub serves as a university-wide space for research, collaboration, and innovation at the intersection of global environmental change and infectious diseases. By linking experts across disciplines—from medicine and epidemiology to engineering, ecology, and policy—we aim to advance scientific understanding and drive real-world solutions.

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Discovery Awards

Johns Hopkins University’s Discovery Awards Program provides grant awards to cross-divisional teams from at least two schools or affiliates of the university, who are poised to arrive at important discoveries or creative works. This year, the Institute for Planetary Health is thrilled to partner with JHU’s Discovery Awards Program in providing an additional $50,000 in funding for an award that addresses Planetary Health challenges and solutions (Discovery proposals may request up to $175,000). The Discovery Awards’ Planetary Health track offers an exciting opportunity to catalyze new, synergistic research and advance critical solutions that address the degradation of Earth’s natural systems and its impacts on human health and well-being.

Nexus Awards

The JHU Nexus Award Program is a university wide initiative launched in 2023 to support convening, research, and teaching anchored at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. Awarded projects and programs span the breadth of JHU’s scholarship and expertise from artificial intelligence and health policy, the arts and humanities, gender equity, and much more. A Planetary Health track with supplementary funding was incorporated beginning in the 2025 Nexus Awards application cycle, with the goal of stimulating new transdisciplinary research and convenings in the field of Planetary Health at JHU.

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Recruitment for a new Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships cluster in Planetary Health is under way. This initiative is expected to strengthen and complement the scholarly community being developed through JHIPH’s programs and activities. The cluster’s investment in research includes four Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships and four Junior Faculty positions, all aimed at fostering a collaborative, multidisciplinary community focused on: understanding the health implications of changes in complex, interconnected environmental systems; designing and implementing sustainable solutions for the health impacts of the Earth crisis; and monitoring, evaluating, and communicating the outcomes of these strategies. 

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