The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
The Research Grants Council (RGC) today (November 19) held an award presentation ceremony to honour 103 academics from the eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities for their distinguished research achievements and significant contributions to the higher education sector.
Selected through a rigorous process by the RCG, the awardees included:
* 10 RGC Senior Research Fellows;
* 10 RGC Research Fellows;
* 10 Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellows;
* 13 Early Career Awardees; and
* 60 RGC Postdoctoral Fellows (this year, the number of awardees under the Fellowship Scheme has increased from 50 to 60, demonstrating the RGC's commitment to enhancing its support for young researchers).
Officiating at the ceremony, the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, said that the Government is committed to building Hong Kong into an international knowledge hub for talent locally, nationally and globally. With the rapid and thriving development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area, and with Hong Kong's advantage as a cosmopolitan international city that connects to the Mainland and the world, Hong Kong is uniquely positioned as a prominent international innovation and technology centre. Together with the UGC and the RGC, the Government is sparing no effort to nurture and expand Hong Kong's research talent pool and attract and retain talent to further promote the long-term development of Hong Kong's higher education system.
"The Chief Executive announced in the 2024 Policy Address the launch of another round of the Research Matching Grant Scheme (RMGS) with a $1.5 billion injection. Based on the successful experience of the inaugural round of the RMGS, which attracted around $5.8 billion in donations or sponsorship for research, we are confident that another round of the RMGS will enable our universities and institutions to work more closely with various sectors of society and attract more funding sources to support our ambition to expand our research and development capacities," Dr Choi added.
Also officiating at the ceremony, the RGC Chairman, Professor Timothy W. Tong, congratulated the awardees for their remarkable accomplishments and expressed appreciation for the Government's new initiatives to support the higher education sector.
"Looking forward, the RGC will continue working with the universities to promote research excellence and drive innovation in the higher education sector to nurture young talent for Hong Kong's economic and social development and strengthen Hong Kong's role as an international knowledge hub," he said.
The list of awardees is in the Annex. Relevant award citations are available on the RGC website (www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/about/events/).
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