Digital Seed Grant
Walker Library Digital Scholarship Initiatives invites proposals for seed grants to support individual or collaborative digital scholarship projects in research, teaching, or public outreach from any discipline or area at MTSU. The Digital Seed Grant competition is open to MTSU faculty, researchers and graduate students.
Special consideration will be given to applications that demonstrate collaboration across units, that focus on open access to research outputs, use of Digital Partner materials (housed at campus archives and libraries), and use of existing Library technology infrastructure and Digital Scholarship Lab resources.
Seed Grants (up to $2,000)
The number of grants available each year will vary, with each at a maximum of $2,000. A list of the awarded projects are available by year: 2022-2023, 2021-2022, 2020-2021, 2019-2020, 2018-2019 and 2017-2018. Applications are closed. The next cycle will open in spring of 2025.
Q: What is Digital Scholarship (DS)?
A: Digital Scholarship at Walker Library is interdisciplinary, collaborative, and committed. As a method, it emphasizes the use of interactive technologies to expand the participation, modes of access, diversity of analysis, and dissemination of scholarship. The frequently used term, digital humanities, is a subset of digital scholarship--the larger umbrella of all scholarship including the arts, sciences, and everything between.
EXAMPLE USES OF DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP INITIATIVES SEED GRANTS
The following is a brief but not exhaustive list of possible projects:
- Hiring a student worker to perform data analysis, text encoding, or data entry*
- Digitizing materials not held at Walker Library
- Purchasing specialized equipment for digitization or analysis**
- Digital textbook, edition, article, archive or exhibit that is open access
- Media-rich narratives or interactive storytelling
- Use of games, 3D, AR/VR, or maker projects for research or teaching
- Applying spatial methods to literary texts, historical problems, or scientific discoveries
- Textual, network, audio, or visual analysis
- Pedagogical focus on civic or public humanities
- Convening an event at MTSU to discuss or learn DH/DS topics
- Learning and applying a new digital research skill by attending a conference, webinar, or workshop.
*Students (at all levels) will be paid as library student workers **Equipment purchased with Seed Grants will be installed in the Digital Scholarship Lab for use with future projects.
APPLICANT DETAILS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Applicants must be MTSU faculty members, researchers, or graduate students. The grant must be spent within 12 months and a final report (less than 1500 words) describing the outcome of the project must be submitted within 2 months of the project completion. Receipts are required for reimbursement (grant funding is not extra compensation for time nor applicable as an honorarium; it is reimbursement for resources used or student worker compensation only). Projects awarded will typically run from July 1 to June 30.
Additionally, the lead investigator or team awarded the grant must make a presentation of their work at the Digital Humanities Seminar Series and/or be added to Walker Library’s Digital Collections or JEWLScholar, the institutional repository. Authors of projects and presentations retain all copyrights, but Walker Library is given the right to redistribute the work.
If awarded, applicants must wait one year before applying again.
Samples of tool and resource possibilities for projects are depicted on this page, but applicants are not limited to these options. Applicants are responsible for project planning and development regardless of which resources or tools are used. (The library does not help with development but may be a consultant for project planning). 
GUIDELINES AND APPLICATION PROCEDURES
The 2025-2026 cycle is closed.
The online submission process includes:
1. Application Form
2. Detailed Budget (if form space is not sufficient)
The Application Form provides a narrative and outline of the desired project, including the project abstract, project overview, outcomes, impact on field, anticipated timeline, budget, resources needed, project completion, team members (if any), and the intended audience.
All applications will be reviewed by a subcommittee made up of faculty and staff associated with Digital Scholarship Initiatives.
For questions about the Digital Seed grant, email: digitalscholar[at]mtsu[dot]edu.
