Call
Circular for the 2020/21 Exercise
Introduction
The Research Grants Council (RGC) and the
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
invite applications for the Germany / Hong
Kong Joint Research Scheme 2020/21 exercise.
Launched in 1996, the Scheme aims to promote
research collaboration between Hong Kong
and Germany by providing researchers in
the two places with one-year or two-year
travel grants.
The Hong Kong Principal Investigators could
use the RGC grants to support justified
research visits of research postgraduate
students to partner institutions, in order
to enhance the students' training and opportunities
for overseas experience. The budget for
the 2020/21 exercise is HK$1.2 million.
The grant size for the travel grants is
HK$45,000 per year for projects involving
travel of research postgraduate student(s)
and HK$30,000 per year for projects not
involving students' travel. Additional funding
support from Hong Kong and German institutions
/ companies to individual grant recipient
is most welcome.
Hong Kong applicants should meet fully
the requirements for applying the RGC General
Research Fund (GRF). Hong Kong applicants
should submit applications to the RGC through
the Research Offices of respective
universities.
While applications must be submitted before
the deadline as outlined below, Hong Kong
applicants should check with their
universities
for internal closing dates. Late submission
will not be processed.
While detailed information regarding the
Scheme and its application procedure could
be obtained from respective universities,
it is also available on the RGC homepage
under "Funding Opportunities - What can I apply for?" at http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/ge_hk_jrs.html.
The RGC and the DAAD bear no responsibility
for the manner in which the exchange / visit
is conducted.
Further details on the Scheme:
Aim |
- To support scholarly collaboration
between individual Hong Kong and
German researchers.
|
Scope |
-
There is no quota on the number
of applications to be submitted
by each university.
-
Applicants may apply for one-year
or two-year travel grants.
-
An applicant (Principal Investigator
(PI)) can only submit one application
in an exercise but may participate
as a member of another project
in the same exercise.
-
The RGC grant provides only for
air passage(s), accommodation
and subsistence costs directly
related to the proposed exchanges
between the two partners in Germany.
If free or less expensive air
tickets and / or accommodation
are available, the PI may undertake
additional visits or visits of
longer duration.
-
The RGC grant does not cover
expenditure on equipment, consumables
or other project-related expenses,
as well as insurance. Each PI
must make provision for these
and any other costs associated
with the project.
-
Funding will not be provided
to the same project for more than
two years.
-
The RGC grant is solely for use
by the Hong Kong PI.
-
Save in very exceptional circumstances
(such as prolonged illness of
the PI) and with proper justification
stated in the "Travel Plan"
of the application form as well
as prior approval of the RGC,
the PI cannot delegate the
trip to his Co-Investigator (Co-I)
nor his project team members.
An application without proper
justification for delegation of
the trip to the Co-I or project
team members does not meet the
eligibility criteria of the scheme
and will be disqualified.
-
If, for operational reasons,
a project team member is required
to make use of the grant for a
trip (in addition to the trip
undertaken by the PI), detailed
justification with a clear breakdown
of the expenses requested for
each traveller must be provided
in the "Travel Plan"
of the application form. In the
case that no breakdown of expenses
is provided and the number of
trips endorsed by the RGC is less
than the number requested, the
RGC grant will be awarded on a
pro-rata basis.
-
If the PI proposes to use the
RGC grant to support travel
of research postgraduate student(s)
together with the PI, detailed
justification and the plan for
training for the student(s) through
the proposed visit(s), with a
clear breakdown of the expenses
requested for each traveller must
be provided in the "Travel
Plan" of the application
form. In the case that no breakdown
of expenses is provided and the
number of trips endorsed by the
RGC is smaller than the number
requested, the RGC grant will
be awarded on a pro-rata basis.
|
Format |
- For each proposed research project,
there should be a Hong Kong PI and
a German PI to facilitate and co-ordinate
work in their respective teams.
|
Grant Size |
|
Application Procedures |
General
-
Parallel submissions of applications
by the Hong Kong and the German
applicants are required:
-
Hong Kong applicants should
submit their applications
to the RGC through the Research
Offices of respective
universities.
Direct submission of applications
to the RGC will not be accepted;
and
-
German applicants should
submit their applications
directly to the DAAD. Further
details are available on the
DAAD homepage.
-
It is the obligation of both
the Hong Kong and German applicants
to ensure that their respective
applications contain sufficient
and consistent information for
evaluation. The RGC will not seek
or accept supplementary information
/ revision after the application
deadline. The DAAD would verify
the applications upon receipt
of the Hong Kong applications
from the RGC. Applications containing
inconsistent information may lead
to disqualification.
-
Applications will be disqualified
if the proposals are found to
have exceeded the allowable page
limits or excessive attachments.
Application
-
For each application, please
submit a softcopy (with size up
to 2Mb per application) and three
copies of:
-
application
form;
-
two-sheet (i.e. four sides)
project proposal (see below);
-
one A-4 page (with a maximum
of 400 words) curriculum vitae
(CV) for each research postgraduate
student if travel for student(s)
is/are proposed, with information
on name, academic qualifications,
current research work, research
output, etc; and
-
one A-4 page (with a maximum
of 400 words) curriculum vitae
(CV) for each project team
member, with information on
name, academic qualifications,
previous academic position(s)
held (with date(s)) &
present position (state if
applicant is a visiting academic
from overseas), previous relevant
research work, publication
records including the five
most representative publications
in the recent five years and
five representative publications
beyond the recent five years,
and others including research-related
prizes and awards, brief description
of experience in consultancies,
service as a referee in evaluating
other grant applications,
patents, PhD theses supervised,
etc.
-
The project proposal should contain
the following details:
-
project title;
-
research objective(s);
-
research plan and methodology:
- to make sure this section
is written in a manner that
allows easy understanding
by reviewer(s) in related
field(s)
- to include an outline of
the work plan according to
the proposed time schedule
-
reason(s) for the choice
of the German PI; and
-
plan for collaboration (indicate
the respective roles and the
specific tasks to be undertaken
by the Hong Kong and German
PIs as well as each of their
team members).
-
Hong Kong applicants may refer
to the Proposal Templates enclosed
at the Appendices to the application
form in preparing their proposals
and CVs.
-
Applications must be received
by the RGC by 26 June 2020.
Applicants should check with the
Research Offices of respective
universities for internal deadlines.
|
The Review Process |
-
The RGC and the DAAD will review
the applications based on:
-
the academic merits of the
proposed research;
-
the possible synergy, the
expected benefits, and the
prospects for longer-term
collaboration; and
-
opportunities for training
of young researchers and research
postgraduate students through
the proposed exchanges.
-
The RGC and the DAAD will jointly
select applications to be supported.
Only applications, which have
been jointly supported by both
sides, will be considered for
funding.
|
Announcement of Results |
-
The RGC and the DAAD will announce
the selection results around
December 2020.
-
The RGC will convey the results
to the Hong Kong applicants through
their respective universities.
No feedback on the applications
will be provided.
- The results will be available
at the RGC homepage under "Funded
Research - Funding
Results" at http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funded_research/funding_results.html.
|
Funding period |
-
PIs should use the one-year grant
or the first year fund of the
two-year grants between 1 January
2021 and 31 December 2021 inclusive,
and the second year fund of the
two-year grant between 1 January
2022 and 31 December 2022 inclusive.
-
For two-year grants, unspent
balance from the first year cannot
be carried forward to the second
year and should be returned
to the RGC within six months upon
expiry of the first year funding
period.
|
Monitoring and Assessment |
Interim Report for two-year grant
-
The PIs should prepare and submit
the interim reports for two-year
projects to the RGC by the deadline
as stipulated in results announcement.
They should check with the Research
Offices of respective
universities
for internal deadlines.
-
Although the second year funding
has been granted, the RGC will
consider clawing back the grant
and terminating the project if
interim report indicates that
the PI fails to accomplish the
proposed exchanges and collaboration.
Completion Report
-
Hong Kong PIs should submit a
copy of their completion report
together with publications arising
directly from the sponsored work
to the RGC through respective
universities within twelve months
after the expiry of approved funding
period.
-
All publications arising from
the research collaboration under
this Scheme should carry an acknowledgement
as follows: "The work described
in this paper was supported by
a grant from the Germany / Hong
Kong Joint Research Scheme sponsored
by the Research Grants Council
of Hong Kong and the German Academic
Exchange Service (Reference No.
[G-[University's abbreviation][University
code][serial number of 2 digits]/[year],
e.g. G-HKU701/20)".
-
The RGC will not allow extension
of the approved funding period.
-
The university should submit
the relevant financial statement
together with any unspent balance
to the RGC within six months after
the expiry of the approved funding
period.
|
Enquiries
All enquiries should be directed to the
Research Offices of respective
universities in the first instance who, if in doubt,
will contact the UGC Secretariat. Their
contact details are as follows:
Ms Cecilia Sun
Research Grants and Contracts Office
City University of Hong Kong
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon
|
Tel.: 3442 6832
Fax : 3442 0136
Email:
rocsun@cityu.edu.hk
|
Ms Queenie Tam
Graduate School
Hong Kong Baptist University
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon
|
Tel.: 3411 7614
Fax : 3411 5133
Email: hkburc@hkbu.edu.hk
|
Miss Connie Lam
Office of Research and Staff Development
Lingnan University
8 Castle Peak Road, Tuen Mun
New Territories
|
Tel.: 2616 7683
Fax : 2591 9618
Email: splam@LN.edu.hk
|
Ms Jo Poon
Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer
Services
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin
New Territories
|
Tel.: 3943 6545
Fax : 3942 0993
Email: jopoon@cuhk.edu.hk
|
Ms
Cherry Ng
Research and Development Office
The Education University of Hong Kong
10 Po Ling Road, Tai Po
New Territories
|
Tel.:
2948 6318
Fax : 2948 7697
Email: cherryng@eduhk.hk |
Ms
Christine Yeung
Research Office
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hung Hom
Kowloon
|
Tel.:
2766 4046
Fax : 2355 7651
Email: christine.yeung@polyu.edu.hk |
Ms Amy Chan
Research Office, Research Administration
The Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology
Clear Water Bay
Kowloon
|
Tel.:
2358 6923
Fax : 2358 1541
Email: ocamy@ust.hk |
Miss Celia Sze
Research Services, Registry
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
|
Tel.:
2219 4587
Fax : 2803 0558
Email: celiasyy@hku.hk |