Home > Funding Opportunities > Research Impact Fund > Application for RIF 2020/21

Application for RIF 2020/21

For 2020/21 exercise, please click here for the call letter issued by Secretary, RGC to the Heads of UGC-funded universities inviting applications.

  • Objectives

    Research Impact Fund has the following objectives:

    1. To encourage the local academics to consider and articulate the potential of research to deliver benefit for the wider community; and to encourage more impactful and translational research projects; and

    2. To encourage a greater volume of collaborative research beyond academia (e.g. organisations such as government departments, business sector, industry and research institutes).

  • Eligibility

    Only academic staff members whose conditions of employment meet ALL the following requirements are eligible for application of RGC grants as Project Coordinator (PC):

    1. they have a full-time1 appointment in the university proper2 of UGC-funded universities;

    2. they are in Staff Grades from 'A' to 'I'3 as defined in the Common Data Collection Format (i.e. from 'Professor' to 'Assistant Lecturer');

    3. they are primarily engaged in and spend at least 80% of their time in degree or higher degree work4 at the university proper; and

    4. their salary is wholly funded5 by the university proper.

    Visiting staff will only be eligible if they have a full-time appointment in the university proper covering the whole project period. Staff supported by external research grants6 are however not eligible.

    As a transitional measure, academic staff who are engaged in non-degree programmes which are still funded by the UGC may also apply as the PC. Eligible staff in this category must be wholly funded from the General Funds of the institution(s) concerned. This arrangement would continue until such time when the relevant programmes are no longer funded by the UGC. Cases of an exceptional nature (including circumstances not covered by the above rules) will be considered by the RGC on a case-by-case basis.


    1 Excluding part-time staff and staff holding honorary appointments.
    2 Excluding schools/ arms of continuing education and professional training and other analogous outfits.
    3 Excluding polytechnic staff grades.
    4 A Project Coordinator who is / will be seconded to work full-time or part-time at the two Innovation and Technology (I&T) clusters (Health@InnoHK and AIR@InnoHK) at the Hong Kong Science Park is eligible to apply for the RIF
    5 Excluding staff members who are receiving income from paid appointments outside the university proper or who is supported by external research grants.
    6 These grants are normally awarded for a designated purpose.

  • Criteria for Consideration of Grant

      As one of the objectives of the RIF is to encourage more impactful and translational research projects, equal weights on academic merit and potential research impact will be adopted in the assessment. There will be different assessment criteria for academic merit and potential research impact.