Lessons for Success Application Instructions

The 2027 Lessons for Success conference is scheduled for Monday, April 12, 2027, through Wednesday, April 14, 2027 at the ASHA National Office in Rockville, Maryland. Accepted participants are required to attend in person.

To apply, access the online application system during the application period (October 1 – December 1). Complete the online form, upload the following materials as PDF files, and submit the entire application by 11:59 p.m. EST, Tuesday, December 1, 2026.

Page limits do not include references. Pages should be 12-point font and single-spaced with one-inch margins. All application materials must be uploaded as PDFs.

1. Cover Letter (limit 2 pages) — Describe why you are well-suited to participate in and benefit from the LfS program. Explain how you would leverage the knowledge gained from LfS to advance your research career. Provide any further information you want reviewers to know regarding your career trajectory, grant status, or any special circumstances affecting your history.
2. 5-Year Career Plan (limit 3 pages) — The 5-year career plan provides an overview of your goals in the areas of teaching, research, and service and the steps you will take to achieve those goals. The amount of effort devoted to each area and the nature of activities within each category depends on (a) the type of university that employs you and (b) your career stage. Predoctoral and postdoctoral students may include a section on research training, either in addition to the other components or instead of an irrelevant component. Please include only those components that are appropriate to your career stage. See Career Plan Template [PDF].
3. Research Statement (limit 3 pages) —Follow instructions on the Research Statement Template [PDF] for what to include within each of the following two sections:
   
   • Contributions to Science (limit 2 pages). Briefly describe up to three of your most significant contributions to science. This section is based on the NIH Supplement to the Common Form Biosketch.
   • Future Research (limit 1 page). Provide an overview of your research program (including its anticipated development) over the next 5 years.
4. CV (limit 5 pages) — Include only the following sections, and within each section, list items in reverse chronologic order:
   • Professional Preparation. List your education and training, including postdoctoral and fellowship training, as applicable.
   • Appointments, Positions, and Honors
     • List all academic, professional, or institutional appointments and positions.
     • List any relevant academic and professional achievements and honors (e.g., any clinical licensures and specialty board certifications, scholarships, traineeships, fellowships, development awards, academic awards, loan repayment awards, and grants that provided you with financial support but for which you served a role other than Principal Investigator (PI), co-Principal Investigator (co-PI)/Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI), or co-Investigator (e.g. Research Assistant, Postdoctoral Fellow on an Institutional Training Grant).
   • Publications
     • You may include manuscripts currently under peer review. Be sure to include the journal name(s).
     • Do NOT include any papers that are in preparation but not yet submitted or non-peer reviewed publications (e.g., the ASHA Leader or SIG Perspectives prior to 2018).
   • Grants: List grants you have submitted as the PI, co-PI/MPI, or co-Investigator in the following categories:
     • Extramural Grants
       • Funded
       • Pending
       • Unfunded
     • Intramural grants
       • Funded

Note: Any grant for which you served a role other than PI, co-PI/MPI, or co-Investigator should be included in the section on Appointments, Positions, and Honors.

5. Extramural research grant proposal — Your application must include a complete, extramural research grant proposal for which you had the primary role in conceptualizing and writing. Reviewers will not use this grant in evaluating your application for the program. Rather, if you are selected to attend, ASHA will share this grant with Lessons for Success faculty and attendees and will use it in didactic sessions. The grant might be selected to be critiqued in front of the group as part of a mock review or section analysis session. For training purposes, all grants will be reviewed following the NIH R-series criteria.
   • The grant proposal must have already been submitted to an extramural agency or will be submitted before January 31, 2027.
   • Your complete proposal must include all grant sections except for the budget or other sensitive financial information. If the proposal includes a biosketch that lists grades, please redact or black them out.
     • If you are uploading an NIH proposal, include all sections (i.e., the abstract, specific aims, research plan, bibliography, facilities and other resources, narrative, biosketches for all key personnel, protection of human subjects, and the inclusion of women, minorities, and children). Submit any summary statement of reviewer critiques, if available.
     • If you are uploading a non-NIH proposal that did not require all these sections, include all sections that were required. The uploaded proposal must include—at a minimum—an abstract, the specific aims, and the research strategy.
   • PI Consent Form [PDF] (if applicable) — You are expected to submit a grant proposal for which you had the primary role in conceptualizing and writing. However, if you are not the named or sole PI, you must submit a consent form signed by the PI. This form affirms that you were a major participant in the writing and development of the grant proposal and gives ASHA permission to use the grant as conference material. Be sure to fill in your name and the name of the grant proposal before requesting a signature.

If I have completed multiple proposals, which one should I submit with my application? Please select a grant that you are comfortable sharing with others and hearing critiqued in front of the group. NIH proposals work particularly well within the conference format.

If you are selected to participate, you will have the opportunity to discuss the abstract and specific aims of an additional, in-preparation grant with your assigned Lessons for Success faculty member.