The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:

The Research Grants Council (RGC) announced today (June 30) the results of the annual General Research Fund (GRF) exercise for 2009/2010 and the Seventh Round of the Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding Scheme.

This year, the RGC received a record high of 2 303 GRF applications submitted by the academic staff of the eight institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC), representing an increase of about six percent over the last year. Total funding of about $2,307 million was sought. After a rigorous international peer-review, the RGC decided to fund 776 projects with a total amount of $517.6 million. Including an additional 15% of the project grant allocated to the institutional management as on-costs, the grand total awarded this year is $595.2 million. The overall success rate is about 34%.

Commenting on the results, the Chairman of the RGC, Professor Roland Chin, said, "The Council attaches great importance to quality in the selection process and we are impressed by the quality and diversity of the research proposals in this exercise. We believe that research in Hong Kong can be better served through greater funding support for high-quality projects. The average funding amount per project has thus increased by 16% from $0.58 million last year to $0.67 million this year. The RGC has also allocated more resources to fully fund the projects of exceptional quality this year. I am glad to see that the number of exceptional quality projects has increased by 18% over the last year. The average funding amount for these excellent projects has increased by about 22% from $0.81 million per project last year to about $1 million per project this year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all RGC panel members for their hard work and expert opinions."

"With the establishment of the $18 billion Research Endowment Fund, it will definitely provide better support to research in Hong Kong. Institutions and researchers will benefit from extra funding, and the RGC is looking forward to a more stable funding source and the opportunities of a larger budget in the coming years," Professor Chin added.

Out of the 776 projects supported this year, 239 projects were in the Engineering disciplines, 206 in areas related to Humanities, Social Sciences & Business Studies, 171 in Biology and Medicine, and 160 in Physical Sciences.

In parallel with the GRF 2009/2010 exercise, the RGC today also announced the funding results of the Seventh Round of the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme. Out of the total 71 research proposals received, the RGC decided to fund 20 projects. The success rate has jumped from 16% in the last Round to 28%. The total amount of funding support is $7.2 million. Taking into account the on-costs allocated to institutional management, the grand total awarded is $8.3 million.

"The Seventh Round of the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme has attracted high quality public policy research proposals. The Council has applied the same high RGC standard in the selection process which involved a rigorous peer-review by international experts in the respective fields. We are confident that the results of these projects will make a substantial impact in policy matters in Hong Kong," Professor Chin said.

A table showing the number of GRF funded projects and the amount of grants by broad subject discipline and institution is set out at the Annex which is also posted on the RGC website at http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/result/grf/grf.htm. Details of the funded projects of the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme can also be found on the RGC's website at http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/result/other/other.htm

Established in 1991, the RGC is a non-statutory advisory body operating under the aegis of the UGC. The RGC is responsible for supporting and fostering academic research in all disciplines taught in the local higher education institutions.

Ends
30 June 2009