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Joint Research Schemes under the Research Grants Council |
(29-12-2011) |
To promote and encourage collaboration and exchanges between Hong
Kong academics and the Mainland and overseas academics, the Research
Grants Council (RGC) is committed to implementing the Joint Research
Schemes. The Schemes enable local scholars to strengthen links with
their counterparts of various regions and conduct collaborative
research in areas with common interests. Collaborative research
not only produces mutual benefits, but also drives research excellence
and adds new dimension through exchange of research experiences.
Currently, seven Joint Research Schemes are established under the
RGC, with partnership involving the Mainland, Germany, France, the
United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain. Funding
is provided in the form of research grants, travel grants, conference/workshop
grants and fellowships. Given the success of the Joint Research
Schemes, the RGC has decided to increase the funding for existing
schemes and launch new schemes and initiatives in the coming year.
In the 2012/13 academic year, it will increase the budget for Joint
Research Schemes by over 60% to HK$41 million.
Enhanced collaboration with Mainland academics
Jointly established with the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (NSFC), the NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme is well-received
among scholars in both places. Within a short span of a decade,
applications have doubled from 148 in 2000 to 294 in 2011, while
the total funding granted by the RGC has increased from HK$10 million
in 2000 to HK$17 million in 2011. This reflects the vibrancy of
joint research in both places. Focus areas of the Scheme include
Information Technology, Life Science, New Materials Science, Marine
and Environmental Science, Medicine and Management Science. The
RGC and the NSFC have decided to expand the Scheme in 2012 by extending
the duration of each funded project from the existing three years
to four years. Both parties will also raise the funding limit to
provide research projects with more adequate resources. To this
end, the RGC has already earmarked HK$21 million for 2012/13 exercise.
The funding limit for projects up to three years will be HK$0.9
million and those over three years but up to four years will be
HK$1.12 million.
New Joint Research Scheme with Agence Nationale de la Recherche
The RGC and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong have jointly
organized the PROCORE-France/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme to
provide travel grants and conference/workshop grants to scholars
of both places since 1998. Since inception, the Scheme has sponsored
over 170 projects. Given the positive response to the PROCORE-France/Hong
Kong Joint Research Scheme, the RGC has decided to cooperate further
with the Agence Nationale de la Recherche and launch a new scheme
to sponsor joint research under five disciplines, namely Chemistry,
Humanities, Information and Communications Technology, Social Sciences,
and Sustainable Energy and Environment. This new scheme will invite
applications in January next year. The RGC has earmarked HK$10 million
for this scheme in the 2012/13 academic year. Each project will
be funded up to four years at a maximum amount of HK$3 million.
Greater participation of local research postgraduate students
in collaborative research
To increase the exposure of local research postgraduate students
and enrich their research experiences, applicants of Joint Research
Schemes will be allowed to budget in the applications expenses for
local research postgraduate students to take part in overseas research
work in the coming calls of the Joint Research Schemes. The RGC
will raise the ceiling for travel grants under the Joint Research
Schemes with Germany, France and the Netherlands. Details will be
promulgated in the announcements of individual Schemes.
Exploring the feasibility of collaborating with other funding
agencies
The RGC will form new panels under various subject disciplines
in the 2012/13 academic year to assess Joint Research Scheme applications.
Meanwhile, it will also actively identify collaborative opportunities
with the Mainland and overseas funding agencies excelling in scientific
research, so as to provide our scholars with more diversified platforms
and more opportunities in international collaboration. This will
enhance the standard of local research and broaden the horizon of
local research postgraduate students.
Professor Roland Chin
Chairman, Research Grants Council
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