DSSN Enabling Grants

The goal of the DSSN Enabling Grants is to support the initiation or continuation of digital scholarship projects by an individual scholar or small team. The maximum award under this program from the 2021-2022 budget is $2000. Full-time faculty and professional staff are eligible to apply for funding.

Possible funding categories

  • Salary for programmer or designer supporting the project
  • Salary for graduate student assistant
  • Support for on-site training
  • Software
  • Expert consultation
  • Support for travel directly related to digital research project

Note: DSSN funding may not be used

  • For print publication of any kind
  • For digital extension of a print publication (e.g., digitized book)
  • Faculty salaries
  • Community gatherings on behalf of a project (room space, food/drink/advertising)
  • Teaching materials or support

Typically, DSSN does not support requests to purchase hardware. If a research project would be enhanced significantly by such a purchase, we would consider the request, on the condition that the hardware revert to ownership by DSSN after the term of the grant.

  • Priority will be given to enabling individual or small-team digital research projects that cannot be funded through other existing resources and do not already have substantial funding support.
  • DSSN requirements for those receiving funding
  • Submit a brief report indicating how funding was used at the end of the funding period
  • In seeking external funding to extend work funded by the DSSN, identify the DSSN as a recipient of a percentage of overhead (DSSN will provide its entity number); ensuing publications should acknowledge DSSN support.
  • Complete expenditures and submit report before June 30, 2022 (in some cases, fiscal year deadlines for expenditure may be considerably earlier than June 30).

The DSSN may also request a paragraph describing grant-enabled accomplishment in your project to be posted on its website.

Application requirements

  • A narrative including:
    • Description of the project (which must be explicitly digital, not simply have a minor digital element)
    • The proposed work during the funding period
    • Planned outputs of the proposal (e.g., extension of existing digital site, next step in existing project, building prototype or doing preliminary work for external grant proposal)
    • What existing resources (if any) the project will make use of in addition to resources acquired via DSSN funding during the grant period—e.g., personal research budget, departmental funding, external grant funding
  • A budget, with narrative justification
  • If this is a working group, a list of primary project personnel, describing the role each will have in managing the activities of the project and relevant previous experience
  • A brief summary of work completed with previously awarded DSSN funds
  • A list of previous funding (internal and external) received by this project

Review criteria

  • What is the intellectual merit of the proposal and of the research project to be supported by the proposed activity?
  • Is digital scholarship a core element of the project?
  • Is the proposer, or are the project personnel, qualified to manage the proposed activities?
  • Is the work described in the proposal feasible in terms of available resources and project timeline?

Submission of applications

The deadline for proposals is 5:00 pm on November 15, 2021. Completed proposals should be submitted to dssn@buffalo.edu. Awards will be determined by the DSSN Advisory Board. The panel may award partial funding. Results will be announced by November 30.

 

Key Dates

  • November 15, 2021, 5:00pm EST: Deadline for submissions
  • June 30, 2022: Budget must be spent
  • July 15, 2022: Project report due