NEXUS unites researchers, practitioners, and communities worldwide to set and deliver a shared research agenda at the intersection of implementation science and data science — including AI and machine learning applied to health systems — anchored in implementation science so the network stays relevant across generations of technology.
Rather than launching with a pre-set agenda, NEXUS begins with a 12-month international research priority-setting exercise (eDelphi) whose result — the network's first Global Research Agenda — is ratified by its founding General Assembly.
An international eDelphi panel proposes, debates, and scores research priorities in open rounds — beginning with open item generation, not pre-specified domains — following published international consensus methodology.
The exercise culminates in the network's first Global Research Agenda, ratified at the founding General Assembly and refreshed as the field and its technologies evolve.
Working groups form around the consensus priority domains, each co-chaired by one early-career and one senior investigator, and carry the active research agenda forward.
The network's founding commitments are structural, written into its governance and methods from day one.
Minimum representation thresholds for researchers from low- and middle-income countries across the Executive Committee, country leadership, and working group co-chairs — with early-career LMIC researchers in leading roles.
Community and lived-experience representatives sit on the Executive Committee itself — not in an advisory silo — with honoraria and co-authorship rights.
Every working group pairs an early-career co-chair with a senior investigator, supported by structured mentorship and an annual methods school attached to the General Assembly.
NEXUS is in active development, guided by a development roadmap (v1.0, June 2026).
The founding co-chairs and partners have set out the network's building blocks: governance, the priority-setting process, a three-year strategic plan, and a recruitment strategy.
See the roadmap →An international expert panel — spanning six or more WHO regions, in four languages — will generate and score the research priorities that become the Global Research Agenda.
How it works →A virtual summit of the first Delphi panellists doubles as the network's public launch, with the first cohort of country and partner leads announced.
Full timeline →Membership is free during the founding year, and Delphi panellists may become the founding membership. Register your interest in joining the expert panel, a working group, or the wider network.
Become a Founding Member