Coffee, Consultation, and Collaboration Series

Lessons from Success. Flinn Foundation Seed Grants Awardee Experience

Join us to gain insider insights into the Flinn Foundation’s Seed Grants application process from the perspective of a successful awardee. Learn practical strategies, challenges faced, and key factors that contribute to a winning proposal. 

The main objective of this session is to provide participants with firsthand guidance on crafting a competitive Flinn Seed Grant application by learning directly from an awardee’s experience. The session will highlight common pitfalls to avoid, tips for aligning proposals with Flinn Foundation priorities, and strategies to strengthen competitiveness.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Learning Objectives

• How to align your research with the Flinn Foundation’s priorities and review criteria
• Key elements of a competitive application and what reviewers look for
• Practical tips for preparing your 15-slide application deck
• Common mistakes to avoid when applying
• Insights on how a Seed Grant can strengthen your pathway to larger external funding

Guest speaker

Dr. Ledford is a tenured professor within the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at U of A. She has additional faculty appointments in the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Physiological Sciences and in the Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Training Program. She is also an active member of the Asthma Airway Disease Research and the BIO5 Institute. Furthermore, she serves as the co-director of the Lung Research Focus group within the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center. Dr. Ledford's translational research focuses on obstructive lung disease and dysfunction of innate immunity in asthma and respiratory infections. Her project funded by the Flinn Foundation's Translational Seed Grants was titled "Development of a Novel Therapy to Treat COPD". She and her team worked to develop club cell secretory protein (CC16)-derived peptidomimetics to address COPD.

Please contact BRDE Project Manager, Dr. Dong Wang with any questions.