National Endowment for the Humanities: Digital Humanities Advancement Grants

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Digital Humanities Advancement Grants (DHAG) support digital projects throughout their lifecycles, from early start-up phases through implementation and long-term sustainability. Experimentation, re-use, and extensibility are hallmarks of this grant program, leading to innovative work that can scale to enhance research, teaching, and public programming in the humanities.

Digital Humanities Advancement Grants may involve:

• Creating or enhancing experimental, computationally-based methods, techniques, or infrastructure that contribute to the humanities
• Pursuing scholarship that examines the history, criticism, and philosophy of digital culture and its impact on society
• Conducting evaluative studies that investigate the practices and the impact of digital scholarship on research, pedagogy, scholarly communication, and public engagement

Awards are available for early-stage planning, development, and implementation:

• Level I awards are small grants designed to fund exploratory sessions, workshops, early alpha-level prototypes, and initial planning. In addition to early planning towards an experimental prototype, Level I proposals can identify a problem or research question, explore a research agenda, or discover appropriate methodologies or technologies for both new projects and projects in need of substantive revision or recovery. Outcomes for Level I projects would likely include reports, position papers, and plans for subsequent steps and future research or development. Level I projects may also fund meetings, workshops, or reports addressing specific topics related to the impact of technology on the humanities. Level I projects may also support planning for the revitalization and/or recovery of existing digital projects that promise to contribute substantially to scholarship, teaching, or public knowledge of the humanities. Proposals should include specific plans for broad dissemination of project outcomes.
• Level II awards are larger grants that can be used for more fully-formed projects that have completed an initial planning phase. Level II proposals should therefore include a more articulated plan of work leading to concrete and tangible outcomes, such as working prototypes; detailed plans for upgrading existing or defunct projects in need of substantive revision, enhancement, or recovery; test beds; or demonstration projects.
• Level III awards support implementation and scaling-up of already established projects. All projects must already have completed a start-up or prototyping phase prior to application. The earlier phase of the project may have been supported by NEH or other funding sources. Level III projects must submit detailed data management and sustainability plans, and all projects are expected to fulfill the obligations outlined in these plans.

For all levels of support: Support is available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related travel; article processing charges for open access publications; and technical support and services. Up to 20 percent of the total NEH award amount may be used to acquire computing hardware and software. All grant recipients must communicate the results of their work to appropriate scholarly and public audiences. Grant recipients must submit a white paper within ninety days of the end date of the period of performance. This white paper must document the project, including lessons learned, so that others can benefit. This white paper will be posted on the NEH website. All proposals will be required to include a data management plan that discusses how data will be preserved. Level III Digital Humanities Advancement Grants must also include a sustainability plan that discusses long-term support for the project.

Amount: Award ranges are dependent on funding levels:

• Level I awards: Grants from $10,000-$50,000 and support full-time or part-time activities for periods up to 24 months
• Level II awards: Grants from $50,001-$100,000 and support full-time or part-time activities for periods up to 24 months
• Level III awards: Grants from $100,001-$325,000 and support projects for up to 36 months

Additionally, to encourage institutions to leverage external funding so as to support digital initiatives, applicants may apply for a Level III Match. This opportunity allows up to an additional $50,000 in federal matching funds, which must be matched one-to-one by nonfederal gift funds raised from eligible third parties. This additional funding, which brings the total request to a maximum of $375,000, is designed to encourage robust and creative approaches to supporting initiatives and resources likely to have enduring impact over the long term. Matching funds may support appropriate activities that will take place during the period of performance: for example, the work of personnel dedicated to data curation, long-term storage, extended documentation planning, training, and other efforts to build and sustain an audience.

Eligibility: U.S. nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, state and local governmental agencies, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=315008

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