|
|
|
|
|
An $18 billion Research Endowment Fund was recently set up by the Government to support academic research of Hong Kong. Investment income from $4 billion of the Fund is set aside for Theme-based Research which will support projects on themes of a longer-term nature and strategically beneficial to the development of Hong Kong. A Steering Committee, with membership consisting of academics, representatives from different sectors of the community and the Government, was set up by the Education Bureau with the major charge to identify the themes. I am also a member of the Committee in my capacity as Chairman of the Research Grants Council (RGC). The theme-based research will focus on themes most beneficial to Hong Kong's strategic development and where our local academics have a competitive advantage. The research themes will aim at finding solutions to important problems that are relevant to Hong Kong. Also, Principal Investigators of the research projects funded by the Scheme will be academics of University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded institutions. It is hoped that the initiative will galvanize our strength and interest to work on high impact cutting edge research projects, and at the same time create state-of-the-art teaching materials and educational programs, as well as provide quality training for our research students. Following consultation with the Higher Education sector and relevant sectors of the community, the Steering Committee has selected three themes for the first round of the Scheme, namely, "Promoting good health", "Developing a sustainable environment" and "Enhancing Hong Kong's strategic position as a regional and international business centre". Benefitting Hong Kong's long-term development
Examples of projects under the theme "Promoting good health" include how to promote community health, and how to enhance the capability to prevent epidemics. Research can focus on the fundamental life sciences, disease prevention and control, Chinese medicine, healthy living, aging, and health care policy, etc. Moreover, the Government's strategy of promoting medical services as one of the six priority economic areas is in line with this research theme, which may also look into how medical sciences and policies in other place like Australia, Singapore and the Mainland China can be coordinated with those of Hong Kong. "Developing a sustainable environment" means creating an environmental- friendly development model for Hong Kong. Research on this theme may cover areas facilitating regional cooperation such as pollution prevention and control, sustainable energy, and recycling technology, etc. This theme is ranked high on the research priority of governments, and is also related to environmental industry which is a priority economic areas identified by the Hong Kong Government. Finally, the research theme "Enhancing Hong Kong's strategic position as a regional and international business centre" can stand Hong Kong in a good stead to enhance its status as a business center both regionally and internationally. Financial services and trading, as well as logistics have always been two of the four traditional industries driving the Hong Kong economy. In light of the intense competition from the neighboring cities, this research theme can contribute to Hong Kong's strategic economic development by strengthening our knowledge base in areas like risk management, wealth management and corporate governance, competitive models between Hong Kong and other Asian economies, and financial technology. It is important to pool together the best minds and resources to come up with the most beneficial solutions, such as engaging people from different institutions and academic domains to work on cross-disciplinary issues with major impact on Hong Kong. For instance, research on improving Hong Kong's air quality can involve researchers from many academic areas including mathematics, chemistry, engineering, and medicine, as well as academics in social sciences, law and economics. Leveraging on our academic strengths
The RGC has been tasked to launch the Theme-based Research Scheme. Initially, funding will be focused on these three themes which are beneficial to Hong Kong's strategic development and where the local academia have a competitive advantage. It is hoped that the initiative will galvanize our strength and interest to work on high impact cutting edge research projects, and at the same time create state-of-the-art teaching materials and educational programs, as well as provide quality training for our research students. In taking forward the Scheme, the RGC will adopt a process that is distinct from the other existing UGC and RGC funding schemes. We have invited researchers from institutions to submit "white papers" for the suggestion of "grand challenge topics" under the three selected themes. Multi-disciplinary panels, formed mainly by external leading experts in the related fields, will be formed to evaluate the white papers. Local researchers will be invited to attend workshops in August to discuss, refine and recommend the selection of the final "grand challenge topics". The workshops will also facilitate the initial aggregation of academics of different institutions / academic units potentially to form the project proposal teams. The RGC will then finalise the topics under each theme and issue the Call for Proposals in September - for submission by early 2011. Successful research proposals will be awarded in mid 2011 after international peer review. We hope this new funding initiative can elevate the research impact of the Hong Kong academia to the next higher level and lead to breakthroughs in our research work.
|
