Breaking Down Academic Walls: Bard College Students Bring Research to the Community

Two Bard College students are working to change the way academic research reaches the public. Jaella Mohammed and Raahim Waqas, co-founders of The Open Commons Project (TOCP), are bridging the gap between campus scholarship and community conversation through a new civic engagement initiative.

What Is the Open Commons Project?

The Open Commons Project is a student-run civic engagement initiative at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, that transforms student research, storytelling, and ideas into public conversations accessible outside of academic spaces. Mohammed and Waqas launched the project in February 2026 after recognizing a persistent problem in higher education.

"We realized there's often a disconnect between academic work and public engagement," said Jaella Mohammed. "Students spend so much time researching important issues, but many people outside the classrooms never get access to these conversations because academic language feels very inaccessible and disconnected from everyday life."

The project operates in collaboration with Bard's Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), headed by Dean Erin Cannan, and is part of a broader international initiative through the GR21 Network, formerly known as the Open Society University Network. The GR21 Network is a consortium of international universities that convenes participants from countries including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and throughout Europe and the United States.

A Global Fellowship

TOCP was one of 40 civic engagement projects selected from around the world to participate in the GR21 Civic Engagement Fellowship, a year-long program that connects students across continents. A central element of the fellowship is a week-long in-person conference taking place in the second week of June 2026 in Bangladesh, where participants will workshop and refine their projects alongside peers from dozens of universities.

Who They Are

Raahim Waqas was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, and came to the United States in 2023. He is a double major in politics and psychology at Bard and is currently completing his senior project on political psychology. He credits the spirit of intellectual freedom he found in America as a driving force behind his decision to study here.

Jaella Mohammed grew up in Accra, Ghana, with family ties to the United States. She is majoring in economics and public health and is also involved with the TEDx Bard team, through which she and Waqas first connected around civic engagement work. Mohammed chose Bard after representatives from the college visited her high school in Ghana for a college fair.

Both students also work closely with the CCE and Bard's Environmental and Science Learning programs, including the Bard Summer Research Institute (BSRI), as they identify student projects suitable for public presentation. One current area of focus involves students conducting research on the Saw Kill waterway.

Making Research Accessible

A core component of TOCP is helping students translate complex academic concepts into language that resonates with general audiences. "When we are workshopping these students, we want to make sure that they're able to take these big ideas and articulate them to the average intelligent voter," said Raahim Waqas. "How to explain neuroscience to someone who has no background in STEM, how to explain the hidden anthropological systems in food in America, the language shift is very important."

The program's curriculum is being developed with this goal in mind, focusing on communication skills that move research from the seminar room to the broader public.

Community Events Planned for Fall 2026

TOCP is planning a series of community events beginning in October or November 2026. These gatherings will be open to the public and will feature student presenters sharing their research in panel and dialogue formats. The format has been described as approachable and informal, with the goal of fostering genuine exchange between students and community members. Events are planned on a three-semester recurring basis.

Waqas summed up the long-term vision: "I want this project to be something which is involved within the Bard network and stays once we have graduated, because we feel like there's a lot of weightage and importance here. We want to include this within the Bard curriculum in some capacity."



Listen to the full interview: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7gLKF2qZmLoKXn5Om5fTNX?si=hdLQU1DqQz6h-W3-ERF65w