Funding and Fellowship
HKUMed Research Collaboration Booster Fund


HKUMed Research Collaboration Booster Fund (“Booster Fund”) aims to strengthen inter-Department/School and inter-Faculty collaboration on strategic interdisciplinary research areas and enhance the competitiveness of staff in the applications for mid- to large-scale collaborative research grants from an outside funding body. It specifically targets promoting team science in high-impact, innovative and high translation potential projects.

Please refer to the General Regulations and Administrative Arrangements below for details on eligibility and selection criteria.

Submit an application

To be considered, the following documents should be submitted to the Faculty Office by July 17, 2026 (Friday).

Each applicant should submit the following documents for consideration:

  1. Preliminary proposal using the template from the funding body:
  2. Internal application form duly endorsed by Chairperson/Head/Director of Department/School/Unit
  3. 2-page CV of the PI with grant records in the recent 5 years
General Regulations and Administrative Arrangements

Targeted external grants

  1. The Booster Fund aims to support the development of proposals for the major collaborative external grants listed below. 
  • Research Grants Council (RGC) Areas of Excellence Scheme (AoE), Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS), Strategic Topics Grant (STG), Collaborative Research Fund (CRF), and Research Impact Fund (RIF)
  • Major schemes from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

Eligibility

  1. PIs must be full-time professoriate staff (excluding staff in practice and teaching track) who meet the eligibility requirements for the appropriate research schemes (e.g. UGC grades, appointment duration, if any). The PI and a critical mass of the project team must be from the Faculty.

Funding Ceiling

  1. Tier 1: A maximum of HK$1 million will be awarded for projects under RGC STG/CRF/RIF, and major projects under MOST/NSFC.
  2. Tier 2: A maximum of HK$2 million will be awarded for projects under RGC AoE/TRS.

Selection Criteria

  1. The following selection criteria will be applied:
  • Scientific merit, impact, element of innovation and translational potential of the proposed project.
  • PIs must demonstrate:
    • Strengths of the inter-Department/School and inter-Faculty interdisciplinary team and complementary nature of team members' expertise
    • Solid plans on shared use of PIs' or Departmental laboratories/equipment
  • Young PIs who meet the above criteria will be given higher priority.
  • Plan to secure large-scale external funding.
  • Applications from PIs who fail to submit a bid for the targeted external funding after completing a “booster project” will not be considered.

Selection Process

  1. The HKUMed Research Deanery shall assess the applications and make award recommendations.
  2. External review of applications may be sought during the selection process.
  3. The Award shall be granted by the Board of the Faculty of Medicine, which will consider recommendations from the Research Deanery.

Expected deliverables

  1. Successful applicants are required to submit a final report at the end of the project period.
  2. PIs must also undertake to bid for the targeted external grants within two years (or until the next round if there is no call in the coming two years); or if unsuccessful, re-submission of an application in the next round.
  3. PIs who fail to submit/re-submit an application for the targeted external grant within the specified time frame will be debarred from applying for the Booster Fund again.
 
Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact the HKUMed Faculty Office at resmed@hku.hk.