HK Grants US$99.8m for Academic Research ProjectsHong Kong's University Grants Committee (UGC) announced Wednesday it would grant a total of HK$99.8 million (US$12.79 million) to three research programs to enhance Hong Kong's academic research abilities.Announcing the selection results of the second round of its Areas of Excellence (AoE) scheme, the UGC said that over the next five years, the funds would go to Molecular Neuroscience: Basic Research and Drug Discovery; Chinese Medicine Research and Further Development; and Molecular Technology for Drug Discovery and Synthesis. The three research programs will be undertaken solely or jointly by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University ( HKUST) "Through the scheme, the UGC wants to encourage institutions to put their strengths together and build up 'Areas of Excellence' for Hong Kong," said Alice Lam, UGC Chairman. The AoE scheme is an initiative launched by the UGC in 1998 with the objective of enabling development in research areas where Hong Kong has particular potentials and where Hong Kong can develop a competitive edge internationally. In the first round Areas of Excellence scheme, the UGC funded three projects with a total of HK$126 million (US$16.15 million) for a period of five years. |
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