Funder: Hong Kong Research Grants Council
Due Dates: August 21, 2026 (Applications open) | October 30, 2026 (Application deadline) | April 15, 2027 (Proposal updates)
Funding Amounts: Normally up to $2 million per project; minimum requests of $100,000 or $150,000 by field
Summary: Supports basic and applied research by eligible university academics to advance knowledge and address specific functional needs.
Key Information: Principal investigators must meet UGC-funded university appointment, staff grade, workload, and salary requirements.
Description
The General Research Fund (GRF), administered by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), supplements universities’ own research support for researchers who have achieved, or have the potential to achieve, excellence. It supports basic research that advances the frontiers of knowledge without requiring an immediate benefit, and applied research that uses theories to meet specific functional requirements or deliver short- to medium-term benefits.
The RGC aims to support worthy projects across a broad range of fields, with academic quality and merit as the overriding assessment priority. Projects are assessed for scientific and scholarly merit, originality, investigator qualifications and track records, and feasibility within the proposed timescale. University commitment, academic or professional development, potential social, cultural or economic applications, and alternative funding are also considered.
