Collaborative Research Fund
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Open for application now! Please refer to call circular.
IMPORTANT DATES
What Is It?

The Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) supports multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary projects in order to encourage more research groups to engage in creative and high-quality cross-disciplinary / cross-institutional projects.

What Makes It Special?

There are three types of grants under CRF:

Collaborative Research Project Grant

The Collaborative Research Project Grant aims to encourage research groups in UGC-funded universities to engage in collaborative research across disciplines and across universities, with a view to enhancing the research output of universities in terms of the level of attainment, quantity, dimensions and/or impact. It provides funding for staff, equipment and general expenses related to the supported projects. In assessing proposals, the Research Grants Council (RGC) puts emphasis on capacity building and the potential of a proposal to develop into an area of research strength.

Project Coordinators (PC) of group research projects can apply for "renewal" funding. A "renewal" proposal should be an extension of the current project led by the same PC and should have its own goal and a new or extended research objective. The "renewal" applications will be assessed alongside other group research proposals.

Collaborative Research Equipment Grant

  1. enable the acquisition of major research facilities or equipment, including major library acquisitions for research, which cannot otherwise be afforded by one university and which can be used for collaborative research;
  2. assist universities in "leveraging" support from equipment suppliers with a view to stretching the value of RGC's fund further than could normally be possible by making small allocation with individual projects; and
  3. provide funding for group user fee (for users from RGC funded collaborative research projects) to access major user facilities (e.g. to pay for the access/use of some existing core facilities/equipment instead of procuring new ones)1.

Young Collaborative Research Grant

The Young Collaborative Research Grant (YCRG) aims to support early-stage academic staff members in gaining first-hand experience in leading and managing collaborative research, so that they will be better prepared in competing for larger collaborative research funding in the next stage of their career. Only group research proposals can apply for YCRG. Equipment proposals should be submitted to Collaborative Research Equipment Grant.

1
The requirement of 50% matching funding from participating universities still applies.
Who Is Eligible?

Collaborative Research Project Grant (CRPG) and Collaborative Research Equipment Grant (CREG)

Project Coordinator (PC) of a CRPG or CREG project must be an academic staff member of an UGC-funded university with conditions of employment meeting ALL the following requirements:

  1. having a full-time1 appointment in the university proper2;
  2. being in Staff Grades from 'A' to 'I'3 as defined in the Common Data Collection Format (i.e. from "Professor" to "Assistant Lecturer");
  3. being primarily engaged in and spending at least 80% of time in degree or higher degree work4 at the university proper; and
  4. salary being wholly funded5 by the university proper.

A visiting staff member will only be eligible if he/she has a full-time appointment in the university proper covering the whole project period. Staff supported by external research grant6 are NOT eligible.

Young Collaborative Research Grant (YCRG)

The PC and at least half of the number of Co-Principal Investigator(s) (Co-PI(s)) of YCRG must be an academic staff member of an UGC-funded university with conditions of employment meeting ALL the following requirements:

  1. having a full-time1 appointment in the university proper2;
  2. at the closing date of the application, not exceeding three years of his/her full-time academic job as an Associate Professor or career equivalent (including those at a lower rank)7, involving teaching and research duties and in substantiation track / tenure track position in any university (local or overseas), or not exceeding 12 years of post-doctoral or equivalent terminal qualifications in the relevant fields (e.g. medical and law degrees) experience, whichever is shorter;
  3. being in Staff Grades from "C" to "I"3 as defined in the Common Data Collection Format (i.e. from "Senior Lecturer (U)" to "Assistant Lecturer");
  4. being primarily engaged in and spending at least 80% of time in degree or higher degree work4 at the university proper; and
  5. salary being wholly funded5 by the university proper.

Unlike CRPG and CREG, visiting scholar is not eligible for YCRG8.

Eligible applicants may choose to submit one application as PC under CRF (i.e. CRPG, CREG or YCRG) in each funding cycle. New junior academic staff members meeting the eligibility criteria of YCRG are encouraged to compete in the Grant. The grantees and awardees9 of YCRG cannot compete in YCRG as PC again but those who failed will be allowed to re-submit applications, which can be a new research topic or research topics previously applied but not supported, within the eligible period.

For transitional purposes, academic staff members 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 university(ies) concerned. This arrangement would continue until such time when the relevant programmes are no longer funded by the UGC. Exceptional cases (including circumstances not covered by the above rules) will be considered by RGC on a case-by-case basis.

1
Part-time staff members and staff members holding honorary appointments are excluded.
2
Schools/arms of continuing education and professional training and other analogous outfits are excluded.
3
Polytechnic staff grades are excluded.
4
A PC 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, or to conduct research in a university or a research institute / body / agency in the Mainland / overseas jurisdiction, is eligible to apply for CRF.
5
Staff members who are receiving income from paid appointments outside the university proper or who is supported by external research grants are excluded.
6
Normally awarded for a designated purpose.
7
For avoidance of doubt, an academic staff at or below the rank of Associate Professor or career equivalent may apply, subject to his/her satisfaction of the eligibility criteria.
8
Visiting scholar is not eligible to apply for YCRG as the PC. They may participate in the project team as Co-PI, but they will not be counted as one of the Co-PIs for the purpose of meeting the eligibility criteria required on "the PC and at least half the number of Co-PI".
9
Only Project Coordinator of a project will be counted as "grantees and awardees" for the purpose of this requirement.
Assessment Criteria

The assessment criteria are as follows:

Collaborative Research Project Grant and Young Collaborative Research Grant:

  1. academic merits;
  2. long-term goal of the proposal and its potential to develop into an area of research strength;
  3. opportunities for effective synergism among the participating researchers, research groups and universities/institutions; and
  4. viability of the proposal, particularly in terms of project management. The project team's ability to put in place an effective governance structure to monitor collaborating work and to ensure prudent deployment of resources would be important considerations.

Collaborative Research Equipment Grant

  1. merits of the proposal, its contribution to academic/professional development, potential for application, and benefit to the tertiary institutions in particular and Hong Kong in general;
  2. scope of the collaborative research/joint use, and the degree of such usage;
  3. feasibility of implementation;
  4. any university's support, including that of the sponsoring/collaborating universities/institutions;
  5. prospect of external funding;
  6. maximum value of money; and
  7. availability of similar facilities/library acquisitions elsewhere in Hong Kong.
Application Procedures

The UGC Secretariat will send invitations to UGC-funded universities for applications at the beginning of each calendar year. Applications should be submitted to the UGC Secretariat through the Research Offices (ROs) of the coordinating universities before the deadline.

CRPG and CREG applicants will be shortlisted for submission of full proposals in the middle of the year.

Selection interviews will be held by the CRF Selection Panel for shortlisted full proposal teams by year end. The UGC Secretariat will announce the results to the universities by early January of the following year.

To view the call circular, please click here.

To download the application form, please click here.

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