New appointment to Research Grants Council chairman (Thursday, 30 June 2005)

The Government announced today (June 30) that Prof Roland Chin would serve as Chairman of the Research Grants Council (RGC) to replace retiring Chairman Prof Kenneth Young. The appointment will be effective from July 1, 2005 for a period of three years.

The new RGC Chairman, Prof Roland Chin, is an expert in the field of computer science. He was a Director of the Applied Research Council and a member of the Innovation and Technology Fund (Information Technology) Project Vetting Committee from 2000 to 2002. He is currently a member of the University Grants Committee and Vice-President for Research and Development of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Prof Young has served as the RGC Chairman since July 1, 1999.

A spokesman for the Government thanked the contributions of Prof Young to the Council. He said, "Over his past six years of service, the RGC has evolved considerably under his able leadership into a major and respected academic research funding body which has helped develop a robust and vibrant research culture in our higher education institutions in Hong Kong.

"Not only has the funding available to the RGC increased by some 25% under his tenure, the number of projects funded and their quality were also on the rise.

"Recently, Prof Young was instrumental in taking forward the Chief Executive's initiative to promote public policy research by allocating an additional $20 million per year for three years to the RGC. The Scheme has been welcomed by academics of Hong Kong."

UGC Secretariat
30 June 2005

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For enquiries on this press release, please contact Mr Anthony Chan, Assistant Secretary General (Research) of the UGC Secretariat at 2844 9916.