The Digital Media and Behavior Lab (DM&B Lab) is excited to announce its annual Seed Funding Scheme, aimed at supporting grant writing activities. In this way, the DM&B Lab fosters innovative research and impactful contributions to the rapidly evolving landscape of digital transformation. We invite proposals from members of the DM&B Lab to apply for seed funds of up to €5,000.

Seed Funding to Support Grant Writing Activities

Each year, the DM&B Lab offers seed funds to support grant writing activities. This support can include funding to buy out of teaching time, receiving grant writing assistance, and funding to conduct pilot studies. These resources are tailored to enhance the competitiveness of future grant applications and to explore crucial aspects of our research domain.

Selection Procedure

Applications will undergo a standardized review process conducted by the extended Management Team (MT), comprising CW MT members and full professors, alongside the lab’s managing directors. The final funding decisions will be made by the CW MT. We are committed to transparency and fairness throughout the selection process.

Criteria for Selection

Hard Criteria: 

• Applicants must be members of the DM&B Lab (that is, CW members or otherwise affiliated with the DM&B lab) 
• Each applicant may submit only one application for seed funding per year 
• The proposed content must align with the scope of the DM&B Lab 
• The grants for which support is sought should exceed €100,000 
• Recipients are expected to remain affiliated with CW during the grant period 
• Submission deadlines for targeted grants should fall within the focal period (next academic year or slightly beyond) 

Soft Criteria: 

• Quality of the application for seed funding 
• Expected competitiveness and quality of the proposed grant 
• Social relevance and potential impact of the proposed research

Preference Criteria: 

• Preference will be given to more junior candidates 
• Candidates with less research time relative to FTE are favored 
• Grant proposals aimed at supporting new PhD students are prioritized 
• Grants exceeding $250,000 are preferred 
• Collaborative proposals involving societal partners are encouraged 
• Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received seed funding 

Note: Indispensability for teaching or management roles is not considered a preference criterion. 

Submission Guidelines

We are committed to make the application procedure as easy as possible. Applicants are required to use the provided preformatted form template for their submissions (click here). Next to some standard information, we only ask for a 500-word description of the proposed project that you aim to get funding for.

Submission Deadline: 15 May 2024

For inquiries and submissions, please contact dmb-lab@vu.nl.