Call for Proposals: Digital Scholarship Lab Project Incubator 2025-2026

About the Project Incubator

The Digital Scholarship Lab is excited to open the Call for Proposals for the 2025–2026 Incubator Program. Proposals will be accepted through Tuesday, September 9th, 2025. 

Apply now!

Do you have a project idea that you can't seem to get off the ground? Do you need access to specific technologies or consultations with experts? Are you past the prototype phase of your project and need help getting to the next step? Do you have an idea for a grant proposal for a digital scholarship project? Are you looking for a community that will give you feedback and support as your project grows?

The Digital Scholarship Lab (DSL) Incubator program supports transformative research projects at these critical junctures and shepherds them to the next phase.

Selected participants will form a cohort, learning with and from one another, as well as from librarians and experts from around the MSU campus. The Project Incubator begins with a series of workshops, combined with co-working sessions throughout the academic year. Participants will apply the materials to their projects and receive feedback from their peers. A detailed schedule can be found below under “Planned Schedule for the Project Incubator.”

The DSL Project Incubator Program is open to projects led by Michigan State University faculty, specialists, staff, and graduate students. Proposals from individuals or teams are equally welcome, and all team members are encouraged to participate in workshops and co-working sessions.

Benefits of the Incubator program include:

• Guidance using a project lifecycle management framework that includes planning, defining roles on, delivering, and closing your project
• Specific advice on building your project
• Access to the DSL Extension, including co-working rooms, computers with additional software and processing power, and specialized equipment
• Coordinated access to Library colleagues with relevant expertise: we will facilitate DSL and library colleagues’ inclusion on project teams, subject to their availability and interest
• Accountability and community as you move your project forward, as well as forum to present about the status of the project in April

Digital scholarship projects are more likely to be accepted if they meet the following criteria:

• Projects in early phases of development or at a transitional moment, especially those without grant funding, and/or projects with a completed prototype that need help moving to their next step.
• Projects that leverage digital methodologies, tools and platforms available in the DSL or across MSU and that also rely to a significant extent on DSL staff or librarian expertise.

Bi-weekly meetings will be held on Fridays, 10:30–noon (starting September 19th). To foster a strong cohort experience, over half of the sessions will be held in-person in the DSL Extension.

We will host an info session on Tuesday, September 2nd, at 3pm in the DSL Room J or you can join us virtually via Zoom:

https://msu.zoom.us/j/97758020577 (MSU NetID required)
Meeting ID: 977 5802 0577 

Proposals must be submitted by the end of the day Tuesday, September 9th, 2025.
All applicants will be notified by Friday, September 12th, 2025.

Apply Now

(Proposal form questions available here.)

Further questions about the Project Incubator may be directed to Justin Wadland (wadlandj@msu.edu).

Planned Schedule for the Project Incubator