The RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) and RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) aim to provide sustained research support integrated with relief from teaching and administrative duties for outstanding mid-career researchers at Associate Professor rank and senior researchers at full Professor rank respectively at UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong, with a view to facilitating academics to dedicate their career to research and development as well as to give them the time and resources to nurture and train the next generation of local research talent for Hong Kong.
In each round of the yearly exercise, both RFS and SRFS will provide ten places encompassing all academic disciplines. Each awardee will receive sustained support for a period of 60 months. The resource may be used for relief from teaching and administrative duties, as well as for research funding support covering salary costs for relief teachers and support for the research project including resources for staff, equipment, travel, subsistence and dissemination costs.
Each RFS awardee will be conferred the title "RGC Research Fellow" and the supporting university will receive a fellowship grant at around HK$5.3 million per award (a uniform rate is applied for both non-clinical and clinical academics) over a period of 60 months.
Each SRFS awardee will be conferred the title "RGC Senior Research Fellow" and the supporting university will receive a fellowship grant at around HK$8.0 million per award (a uniform rate is applied for both non-clinical and clinical academics) over a period of 60 months.
All eight UGC-funded universities are eligible to nominate up to six candidates (at Associate Professor rank) for RFS and six candidates (at full Professor rank) for SRFS in each exercise. Each nomination should include the research proposal of the project to be undertaken by the nominated candidate during the fellowship period.
The candidate must:
While no restriction/ limit on age is imposed, the candidate’s remaining years of tenured/ substantiated service should be sufficient to complete a full course of the fellowship before attaining the official normal retirement age under the supporting university’s prevailing policies.
Subject to exceptional consideration on a case-by-case basis, the requirements above may be relaxed for Hong Kong talent working overseas so that they are incentivised to return to Hong Kong and take up the fellowship. In this connection, an RFS overseas candidate nominated by a UGC-funded university would be eligible for consideration if he/ she:
Candidates will be assessed based on the following criteria:
In the course of assessing a candidate’s leadership quality and vision, particular regard will be given to a candidate’s mentoring success and past experience in developing Research Postgraduate (RPg) students and junior researchers (including Post-doctoral Fellows, if any), as well as the candidate’s engagement plan to train/ nurture the next generation of research talent/ young researchers via the proposed research project under the fellowship. As senior academics should have more experience in nurturing and mentoring young researchers, the weighting accorded in the assessment metrics on leadership will be more for SRFS candidates than that for RFS candidates.
Nominees of RFS and SRFS of all academic disciplines are subject to assessment by either of the two selection panels: (i) Humanities, Social Sciences and Business Studies (H-Panel); and (ii) Sciences, Medicine, Engineering and Technology (S-Panel). Shortlisted candidates for RFS/SRFS will be invited for interview by the selection panel concerned during late May/early June of the next year. Nominees should take note of the interview schedule as remote arrangements for interviews normally will not be considered.
Nominees and supporting universities are advised to read the nomination details as set out in the operation guide, guidance notes and call letter before completing and signing the nomination forms. Nomination forms must be submitted by universities. The nomination deadline for the RFS/SRFS (2024/25) is 30 November 2023 (Thursday). Nominations must be submitted to the UGC Secretariat by 5:00 pm on that day.
Please click here for the call letter from the RGC Secretary to the Heads of UGC-funded universities inviting nominations.
To download the latest forms, please click here.