The Government announced today (February 9) that the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, has appointed Professor Timothy Tong Wai-cheung as the Chairman of the Research Grants Council (RGC) for a term of three years with effect from March 1, 2024.
Professor Tong, an expert in the field of heat transfer, was the President of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University between 2009 and 2018. He has over 30 years of teaching, research and administrative experience, with a distinguished public service record. He is currently the Chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong Laureate Forum and a member of the InnoHK Steering Committee and the Global STEM Professorship Scheme Assessment Panel. His past notable public service roles include serving as the Chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations and a member of the Advisory Committee on Corruption of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
"Professor Tong is a prominent scholar, seasoned educator and university administrator. With his profound experience in higher education and research, I am confident that he will continue to strengthen the vibrant research culture in Hong Kong's higher education sector and lead the RGC to scale new heights in the years to come," Dr Choi said.
Dr Choi also paid tribute to Professor Wong Yuk-shan, the outgoing RGC Chairman, for his significant contributions and sterling leadership. "Over his past three years of service, the RGC has excelled and firmly established itself as a major academic research funding body in Hong Kong that is admired internationally and has contributed to strengthening the solid foundation of Hong Kong's academic research. With Professor Wong at the helm, RGC's support has not only expanded considerably, catering to the distinctive needs of researchers in all disciplines, at different career stages, but also deepened the academic exchange and collaboration with the Mainland," she said.
The RGC advises the Government, through the University Grants Committee, on the needs of Hong Kong's higher education institutions in academic research and on the distribution of funding for academic research projects undertaken by academic staff of higher education institutions. The RGC manages a variety of research funding programmes, including the General Research Fund, the Early Career Scheme, the Collaborative Research Fund, the Research Impact Fund, the Theme-based Research Scheme, the Areas of Excellence Scheme, the Strategic Topics Grant and various Joint Research Schemes. It has set up committees and subject panels to assess research bids in various disciplines. It also manages a number of fellowship schemes, such as the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme and the RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme.
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