THEi received 11 research grant awards totalling $12.8 million in this year’s funding exercise for the Competitive Research Funding Schemes for the Local Self-Financing Degree Sector of the Research Grants Council.

The Schemes, consisting of the Institutional Development Scheme (IDS), the Inter-institutional Development Scheme (IIDS) and the Faculty Development Scheme (FDS), were established by the Hong Kong Government in 2013 to build up the research capacity of local self-financing degree sector.   Over 200 applicants from 12 institutions competed in this year’s exercise.  All the applications were rigorously reviewed by local and overseas experts, and the awards were granted on the basis of merit.   On 31 August 2015, the Research Grants Council announced the results, in which THEi received one IDS award, one IIDS award, and nine FDS awards. 

“Sustainable Living” is the five-year strategic research theme of THEi.  Hence, the IDS award, alone worth 5 million dollars, will be used to set up a central research office, purchase research tools, and establish a research centre for waste and resource management under the Faculty of Science and Technology.  The centre will focus on developing innovative technology to help solve the problem of solid waste disposal in Hong Kong.  Along the same theme, the IIDS award will be used to organize a conference on business sustainability and corporate governance to be held in the summer of 2016.  The conference is expected to attract over two hundred participants from the industry and the academic community.

THEi researchers shone at the FDS competition.  On average, one in three FDS proposals submitted by THEi was awarded, at a rate that is 10% higher than the overall FDS success rate for the whole sector.  Our FDS awardees came from diverse disciplines, including biology, biochemistry, engineering, sociology, language studies, and hotel management.  The awards will enable these academics to carry out high quality research in their specialty areas in the coming three years.  

THEi would like to thank all our academics who participated in this year’s RGC exercise, and to wish the awardees success in their research endeavours.