The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has demonstrated its research excellence in the 2025/26 funding and fellowship schemes awarded by the Research Grants Council (RGC) under the University Grants Committee.
In the General Research Fund (GRF) exercise, HKU secured the highest number of approved projects and the largest share of funding among local institutions. With a success rate of 34%, 269 out of 788 submitted proposals were approved, representing 24% of the total funding awarded – amounting to HK$249 million. Notably, HKU ranked first in three out of the five GRF panels: the Biology & Medicine Panel, the Humanities & Social Sciences Panel, and the Physical Sciences Panel, receiving the highest number of awarded projects in each.
HKU's young researchers also excelled in the Early Career Scheme (ECS), securing support for 49 projects with a total awarded amount of HK$34.6 million, surpassing all other institutions.
In addition, HKU scholars have been honoured under various fellowship schemes, including:
Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS)
Professor Shenjing He
Department of Urban Planning and Design, Faculty of Architecture
RGC Research Fellow Scheme (RFS)
Professor Zhiyi Huang
School of Computing and Data Science
Professor Binzheng Zhang
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Science
Professor Zhiwen Zhang
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Professor Max Shen, Vice-President (Research) at HKU, congratulated the research teams and expressed his gratitude for their dedication and hard work, "The University is excited about the remarkable potential of our research community and eagerly anticipates innovative proposals and transformative contributions that will elevate our pursuit of research excellence to new heights."
More details on HKU's funding results can be found at:
