Call for Proposals -  Health and Medical Research Fund - Research Fellowship Scheme and Briefing Session

The Research Fund Secretariat of HMRF has issued the 2020 Open Call for Research Fellowship Scheme which supports researchers in their early or mid-career with a view to enhancing their research capability in health and medical research.

Priority Area
To tie in with the Government’s "Towards 2025: Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent and Control Non-communicable Diseases (NCD) in Hong Kong" and the "Hong Kong Cancer Strategy 2019", higher priority will be accorded to applications which address cancer and the preventable or modifiable risk factors for NCDs, namely smoking, alcohol drinking, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.

Funding Scope
Funding support will be provided for the successful applicants to attend overseas training programmes. Additional funding will be provided for a small scale original research project with translational potential within short-to-medium timeframe and association to the training programme as part of the Research Fellowship Scheme. Pilot studies and proof of concept studies are also welcomed. The funding ceiling is HK$1.2 million and last for a maximum of two consecutive years (including training costs capped at HK$0.4 million and while that for research components at HK$0.8 million respectively).

Eligibility

1. Researchers or professionals in medical and health-related discipline in their early or mid-career.
2. Applicants should have no more than 10 years' post-doctoral or post-qualification experience (e.g. medical or nursing degree) at the closing date of application. 
3. Full-time employees of the tertiary institutions funded by the UGC at the time of application and based at the same institution throughout the fellowship period.
4. Each applicant must secure the support of a mentor, who is a full-time staff of HKUST and undertakes to provide guidance to the applicant to select the training programme and carry out the research project throughout the fellowship period.

Resubmission of application declined in the previous application round(s) is not accepted.

Application Procedures
For details, please refer to the Research Office’s website and its Application Guidelines. Please submit the Application Form to the Research Office.

Deadline
5 November 2020

Briefing session for the 2020 Open Call Exercise
The Research Fund Secretariat of HMRF will organize an online briefing session on 22 September 2020 (Tuesday) from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.. For registration, please complete and return the registration form, and email it to rfs@fhb.gov.hk.

Registration Deadline for Briefing Session
14 September 2020 

Enquiries
Mickey Pat (Email: romickey@ust.hk, Tel: 3469 2822)