Lingnan University achieves record funding in the 2024/25 RGC Funding Exercise

Lingnan University has achieved encouraging results in the latest Research Grants Council (RGC) funding round for the General Research Fund (GRF), Early Career Scheme (ECS), and Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS). Lingnan’s research performance is widely acknowledged with a total of HK$24.4 million granted for 39 projects, the highest sum over the years and a 17 per cent increase over last year’s HK$20.8 million. Seven of these projects will receive more than or close to HK$1 million.

Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science of Lingnan University, said “We are gratified by the results, and would like to applaud colleagues who have been successful in their applications. All the proposals submitted for the exercise have been the result of a lot of hard work, and the dedication of all colleagues involved is much appreciated. Together, Lingnanians will work for further achievements.”

(i)         High number of “High Quality” mentions

According to the RGC, projects that are rated 5 or 4.5 are of high quality. Of Lingnan’s 39 funded projects, 32 (82%) have achieved this, and the 33% marked high quality projects in the ECS applications are above the sector average of 27%.

(ii)        Prestigious Fellowships (HSSPFS)

Only five universities have received this honour for their applicants, and Lingnan University is glad to be among them with two awards. Lingnan comes second in both success rate (50%) and total fund amount (HK$1.4 million) across the sector.

(iii)       General Research Fund (GRF)

The success rate of Lingnan University in Biological Sciences Subject Discipline is 33% in comparison with 28% across the sector. In Education Subject Discipline, the success rate of Lingnan University is 50%, compared to the sector’s 30% (Figure 1).

A 43 per cent increase in funding over last year is recorded in the Humanities and Social Sciences Panel, and Lingnan’s total funding in the Humanities and Arts Subject Discipline is the third highest among universities.

(iv)       Early Career Scheme (ECS)

Lingnan University’s application success rate in the Biological Sciences, and Social and Behavioural Sciences Subject Disciplines, and Humanities and Social Sciences Panel comes first among the eight UGC-funded universities, while the success rate in Psychology and Linguistics Subject Discipline ranks second (Figure 2). The overall success rate of Lingnan University in the ECS applications is third in Hong Kong.

Figure 1. GRF success rate

Figure 2. ECS success rate