The Hong Kong’s Research Impact Fund was developed to encourage academics to harness their research potential for the benefit of the wider community, spurring impactful and translational research projects. It also promotes collaboration between academia and government departments, the business sector, industry and research institutes. Up to HK$10 million per project are granted by the RIF for a three to five-year period. In total, 13 projects were supported by the RIF in the 2022/23 exercise.
Five research projects led by scholars at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) were awarded the Research Impact Fund (RIF) 2022/23 by the Research Grants Council, with a total grant value of HK$27.55 million.
The essential focus for translational research of PolyU will be sustainability. The five PolyU awarded projects deliver impactful solutions to address the needs for a sustainable community. They cover research areas spanning from medical innovation, smart buildings and construction, green technology, and materials science to advanced manufacturing.
In particular, the PolyU study on deconstruction and reuse technologies for steel and composite structures has been awarded HK$9.75 million for a five-year duration, which is the highest funded amount under the RIF 2022/23.
The Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU stated that these funding achievements affirm PolyU’s research excellence in a wide range of scientific, engineering and human health areas, in which the University delivers impactful solutions for sustainable development. The awarded research teams demonstrate PolyU’s strengths in converting academic research into real-world applications, which is crucial for supporting the innovation and technology ecosystem in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, four projects coordinated by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) received a total of about HK$28 million from the RGC to support Researchers conduct more research projects that are impactful and translate into applications.
The Vice-President of CUHK stated that the University’s 2025 Strategic Plan highlights that the University is based on its leading research strengths and is committed to promoting research. She added that it is remarkable that several projects of the University have been granted funding, encouraging researchers to continue to conduct different collaborative research, transforming research results and benefiting the community.
The four projects are:
- The establishment of an innovative platform for the diagnosis and prognosis of inflammatory bowel disease using microbiome combined with multi-omics by Professor Huang Xiujuan, Assistant Dean (Development) of the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of the Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Yao Liansheng Architecture, School of Architecture;
- Enhancing the Resilience to the Health Effects of Extremely Low Temperatures on the Elderly Under Future Climate Change by Professor Enrong Wu, Professor of Electronic Engineering
- Multimodal Biopsy of Robotic Endobronchial Lung Nodules led by Associate Professor Ren Hongliang from the Department of Electronic Engineering; and,
- Responding to Sedentary and Sedentary Behavior of Children with Special Educational Needs through Integrating Physical Activity” by Prof. Xue Huiping, Chair and Professor of the Department of Sports Science.
Established in 2017, the RGC Research Impact Fund aims to encourage local scholars to conduct more research projects that are impactful and transformable into applications, and to encourage more research collaborations outside of academia.
Each project that successfully applies for the Research Impact Fund can receive a maximum of HK$10 million in funding from the Funding Bureau, and another 30% of the matching funds can come from the university or its project partners. The duration of the research project must be three to five years.
