Results of Proposal Evaluation
| Funding Scheme | Results | Announcement of Results |
|---|---|---|
| Areas of Excellence Scheme | Three proposals amounting to $266 million[1] are funded. | Letter to Heads of Universities dated 5 July 2024 |
| Theme-based Research Scheme | Seven proposals amounting to $378 million[2] are funded. | |
| General Research Fund | 1 046 proposals amounting to $981.46 million are funded. | Letter to Heads of Universities dated 27 June 2024 |
| Early Career Scheme | 209 proposals amounting to $141.9 million are funded. | |
| Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme | Ten proposals amounting to $6.26 million are funded. | |
| Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme | 350 awardees with fellowship’s first annual stipend and travel allowance amounting to $122.92 million are funded (second and third annual stipend and travel allowance with annual adjustment to Composite Consumer Price Index will be disbursed in the course of fellowship). | Letter to Heads of Universities dated 17 June 2024 |
| RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme | 50 awardees with fellowship’s first annual stipend amounting to $21.0 million are funded (second and third annual stipends at around the same amount will be disbursed in the course of fellowship). | Letter to Heads of Universities dated 26 April 2024[3] |
| RGC Research Fellow Scheme / RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme | Ten RFS awardees with fellowship grant amounting to $52.8 million are funded. Ten SRFS awardees with fellowship grant amounting to $79.9 million are funded. |
Letter to Heads of Universities dated 4 July 2024 |
| Strategic Topics Grant | Six proposals amounting to $150 million are funded. | Letter to Heads of Universities dated 4 July 2024 |
| Research Matching Grant Scheme | $61.33 million of matching grants were disbursed in the latest (i.e. nineteenth) processing cycle. | Letter to Heads of Universities dated 31 May 2024 |
Research Funding Schemes
Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme and Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS)
The AoE Scheme (Twelfth Round) and TRS 2024/25 (Fourteenth Round) exercise was concluded successfully. A total of three AoE and seven TRS proposals are funded.
The TRS Public Symposium 2024 is scheduled for 8 December 2024 (Sunday). Project teams of projects funded in the Eighth and Ninth Round exercises will be invited to present their achievements in this coming symposium. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has kindly agreed to coordinate the event with contribution from other participating universities.
General Research Fund (GRF)
In the GRF 2024/25 exercise, the RGC approved a total of $981.46 million for 1 046 projects. The overall success rate is 30%. The average funding amount per project is $0.94 million.
Early Career Scheme (ECS)
For the ECS 2024/25 exercise, the RGC approved a total of 209 projects, amounting to $141.9 million. The success rate is 33% and the average funding level per project is $0.68 million. Among the 209 approved projects, 13 projects are rated “outstanding” and their education plans are also rated “satisfactory”. The Principal Investigators of these 13 projects would receive “The Early Career Award 2024/25” and an additional $0.1 million per project for engaging in educational activities.
Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS)
In the HSSPFS 2024/25 exercise, a total of 35 applications were received, of which ten proposals amounting to $6.26 million were approved. The overall success rate is 29%. The average funding amount per project is $0.63 million.
Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS)
For the fifteenth round of the HKPFS for 2024/25, 8 497 applicants from 104 countries / regions submitted a total of 8 497 full applications to the eight UGC-funded universities. Based on the approved nomination quota system, 599 nominations, involving 592 applicants were subsequently submitted for consideration by the HKPFS Selection Panels. After rigorous selection, 350 applicants were selected for the awards with another 105 applicants on the waiting list.
RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDFS)
In the fifth PDFS selection exercise (2024/25), 89 qualified nominations were received, among which 50 awardees and 25 waitlisted nominees have been selected3. The fifth cohort of PDFS awardees accepting the fellowship should commence their 36-month fellowship between 1 May and 31 December 2024. The scheme is considered successful in encouraging local young researchers to join the research community and develop their research careers in Hong Kong, while at the same time appealing to international postdoctoral talents. To step up the existing support to young research talents in Hong Kong, the scheme will be refined with details set out in the forthcoming section.
RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) and RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS)
In the fifth RFS and SRFS selection exercise (2024/25), a total of 38 nominations for RFS and 38 nominations for SRFS received from universities were assessed to select ten RFS awardees (one from H-Panel and nine from S-Panel) and ten SRFS awardees (three from H-Panel and seven from S-Panel). One SRFS finalist from S-Panel was approved to be on the waiting list. All awardees are required to start the fellowship and research project on 1 January 2025. Each RFS and SRFS awardee will be supported with a fellowship grant covering a 60-month period at around $5.3 million and $8.0 million respectively.
Strategic Topics Grant (STG)
As regards the STG 2024/25 exercise, the RGC approved six proposals with total funding of $150 million. Most of the applications have demonstrated a commendable level of quality and the selected projects are addressing important issues pertinent to the economic and social development of Hong Kong. Furthermore, in light that the STG has been in operation for over two years, the RGC has decided to embark on a review on the methodology in arriving at strategic topics for future rounds of exercise, as well as drawing up proposals of strategic topics and considering improvements to STG-related operational procedures.
Promoting Research Enterprise amongst Young Academics and Talents
The Young Collaborative Research Grant (YCRG) under the Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) will be regularised with a ring-fenced budget of $50 million starting from the 2025/26 exercise. To encourage more young researchers to embark on collaborative research, the institutional quota will henceforth be removed. As an enhancement, proposals eligible for YCRG will be given an additional opportunity of selection under the Y-track after competing with the normal-track CRF proposals. A two-stage application process, similar to the current normal track CRF, will be adopted starting from the 2025/26 exercise.
In addition to regularizing and improving the YCRG, enhancements to the PDFS will be introduced. With the policy support of the Education Bureau, the PDFS will be opened up to include “PDFS-awardee-turned early career research academics”, the latter may include Assistant Professors or Research Assistant Professors. The Scheme will be renamed as The RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme (JRFS) to take effect in the next (2025/26) exercise. An adjusted fellowship funding (instead of an annual stipend) will be provided as research development support for these advanced awardees, covering expenses for conference and related travel, research publication, field work, etc. Further, flexibility in duration of the fellowship will be introduced from a fixed three-year term to two years with the provision of a one-year optional extension, to better suit the actual need of each awardee. Also, the annual award places will be increased from 50 to 60 (subject to review as appropriate) to benefit more promising PhDs.
Progress of Research Matching Grant Scheme
The amount of donation / sponsorship / research contract applied for matching in the latest (i.e. nineteenth) processing cycle was about $97.28 million with corresponding matching grants disbursed at about $61.33 million. After nineteen processing cycles of the RMGS, the aggregate amount applied for matching was about $5.31 billion in total and the total amount of matching grant disbursed to UGC-funded universities / self-financing degree-awarding institutions was about $2.97 billion. The remaining balance, at about $27 million, will be available for matching in the coming twentieth (final) processing cycle with due date of application extended to the end of July 2024.
RGC Visit to Lingnan University
Members of the RGC and Subject Panels visited Lingnan University and participated at the RGC Forum on 6 June 2024. RGC was grateful to Lingnan University for their warm hospitality and the interesting programs arranged for the visit. The university for the next visit will be The Education University of Hong Kong in June 2025.