Call for Preliminary Proposals : Research Grants Council (RGC) - Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) 2021/22 and Second round of One-off CRF COVID-19 and NID Research Exercise

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The RGC is now calling for preliminary proposals for the captioned exercises.

 

There are two types of grants under CRF 2021/22: Collaborative Research Equipment Grant (Equipment Grant) and Collaborative Research Project Grant (Research Grant). The Grants aim to provide funding for:

  1. acquisition of major research facilities or equipment, including provide funding for group user fee to access major user facilities; and
  2. collaborative research across disciplines and/or universities.

 

Renewal Funding

Project Coordinators (PCs) of Research Grant may apply for “renewal” funding. In this exercise, applications for “renewal” funding are invited from group research projects that were funded in 2017/18 and 2018/19.  For the projects funded in 2018/19, the research teams may choose to defer their “renewal” applications to the next exercise.  

For one-off COVID-19 & NID Exercise (Second round), only group research projects related to COVID-19 and NID will be funded. Equipment proposals will not be considered.

 

Project Duration

Max. 3 years

 

Funding Threshold

HK$2 million to HK$10 million per project

 

New Arrangements / Points to Note

  1. Increased budget up to $130 million dedicated for Research Grants (including $9.6 million for the CRF Committee to exercise the “Exploratory Option” to invest into high-risk (i.e. not fulfilling all assessment criteria especially on readiness of preliminary data and the team’s credentials) yet potentially ground-breaking and highly-original research;
  2. Relaxation of eligibility requirement:
  • PC who is/will be seconded to conduct research in a university or a research institute/body/agency in the Mainland/overseas jurisdictions while retaining his/her full-time appointment and position with his/her parent university and is still on the payroll of the parent university, should still be eligible to apply for RGC project grant if the PC will continue to carry out the RGC project and supervise research students and post-doctoral fellows during the secondment;
  1. Details of collaboration and its added value will need to be fully demonstrated in applications and the mid-term review for release of instalment of funding;
  2. Pathways to Impact Statement: applicants are advised to consider a wider spectrum of impact that research can bring about and that are beyond the academia.

For details, please refer to the “Matters Requiring Attention” in the Call Circular.

A list of funded projects is available at the RGC website for information and please contact us if you wish to have sight on some previously awarded CRF proposals from our University for reference.

 

Deadline

4 February 2021 (Thursday)

All applications MUST be submitted through the RGC Electronic System https://cerg1.ugc.edu.hk by the deadline.  Please observe the internal deadline and note that late applications will not be guaranteed for successful submission.

*Should an applicant wish to submit one application each under CRF 2021/22 and Second Round One-off CRF COVID-19 and NID Research Exercise, he/she should apply by two separate system accounts. Please contact Mr. Donald Wong (rodonald@ust.hk) for additional account creation in the RGC Electronic System.

 

Queries

Mr. Donald Wong (Email: rodonald@ust.hk, Tel: 2358 7930)

Event Format
Language
English
Recommended For
Faculty and staff
Organizer
Research Office on behalf of Research Grants Council (RGC)
Contact

Mr. Donald Wong (Email: rodonald@ust.hk, Tel: 2358 7930)

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