The Anti-Racist Digital Research Initiative is a mini-grant program that supports early-stage digital scholarship projects that advance anti-racism and social justice in the humanities, arts, and humanistic social sciences. 

Projects can take a broad range of forms, from collecting community interviews to providing access to data in interesting ways, such as digital maps or collections. 

This program provides:

  • Limited start-up funding to help develop digital research project prototypes
  • Planning support for the entire lifecycle of a project, from concept creation through planning for preservation 
  • Access to library and technical expertise 
  • Technical support

See more about the support we’ll provide and how funds may be used.

Awards are for one year of funding and a maximum of $5,000. We will support up to six projects, depending on their scale, scope, and available staff capacity. 

The initiative is a combined effort of the U-M LibraryLSA Technology Services, and National Center for Institutional Diversity’s Anti-Racism Collaborative.

Who is eligible

The initiative is open to faculty (tenure track, clinical faculty, lecturers, librarians, archivists, and curators) and graduate students from any U-M campus in the fields of humanities, arts, and the humanistic social sciences.

Collaborative, multi-generational, or community-centered research teams are highly encouraged to apply.

In addition to eligibility, review what’s expected from project teams as part of your program participation. 

Application process

We are piloting this initiative during the 2021–2022 year, and anticipate the following timeline:

October and November 2021: Consult with prospective applicants and begin accepting applications 
Midnight on November 19, 2021: Application deadline
December 2021: Announce recipients
January 2022: Grant projects start for a 12-month term
December 2022: White papers or other relevant outputs submitted

Visit how to apply for information about submitting a project proposal, and how we’ll evaluate them.