Preamble
HKU IDS is dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary research, fulfilling its mission to enable cross-disciplinary collaboration in data science. Following the success of the inaugural IDS Research Seed Funds in 2023, the Institute continues to serve as an interdisciplinary research hub, facilitating cross-faculty collaborations. We are now calling for excellent proposals in strategic areas of data science, aiming to bring together IDS scholars and potential collaborators from other departments. This funding exercise seeks to leverage external funding opportunities to achieve greater research impact and deliverables.
Objectives
- Provide seed money for exploring new collaborative interdisciplinary research projects in data science.
- Enhance the competitiveness of staff applying for basic research support from external funding bodies, including RGC-driven funding schemes.
- Enable the production of high-quality and impactful research outputs in data science at a world-class level.
Research Themes
For the 2025 funding exercise, HKU IDS will focus on the following research areas:
Data Science
The Funding Amount
The funding amount will be from HK$200,000 to HK$500,000 per project. Depending on the quality of the received proposals, we anticipate supporting up to five projects in total.
Total funding up to
Eligibility
To foster collaborative interdisciplinary projects, each team must include at least one HKU IDS scholar (as PI) and one professoriate staff member from another department (as Co-PI). Each applicant, who should be an HKU IDS scholar, will not be awarded more than one project.
Application Deadline
Applications will close at 11:59 pm (HKT) on March 31, 2025.
Application Procedures
Please fill in the online application form by 11:59 pm (HKT) on March 31, 2025. You will receive an email receipt upon submission. If any information is missing from your project proposal, the HKU IDS office will contact you.
Please study Guidelines for IDS-RSF 2025 Application for further details.
Q&A
- Provide seed money for exploring new collaborative interdisciplinary research projects in data science.
- Enhance the competitiveness of staff applying for basic research support from external funding bodies, including RGC-driven funding schemes.
- Enable the production of high-quality and impactful research outputs in data science.
- AI for Arts & Humanities
- AI for Science & Health
- Fundamentals of AI & Data Science
- Intelligent Robotics & Systems
- Cybersecurity
The funding amount will be up to HK$500,000 per project.
The maximum duration is 3 years.
The deadline is 11:59 pm (HKT) on March 31, 2025 (Monday).
Subject to the availability of funds, the funding application will be open every year. Stay tuned for the latest information. This round closes at 11:59 pm (HKT) on March 31, 2025.
Each team should have at least one IDS scholar (as PI) and one full-time professoriate staff from other departments who are IDS members.
- PI’s and Co-I’s publication and grant records over the past three years.
- A well-justified research project with ingenuity and a strong collaborative nature.
- The proposal should include both technical and budgetary justifications. All proposals will be reviewed by the HKU IDS management team based on their intellectual merits and interdisciplinary values.
- Expected deliverables, including:
- Submission of an application for basic research support from an external funding body (e.g., GRF from the RGC, HMRF from the FHB) and
- Production of high-quality and impactful research outputs, or
- Organization of knowledge exchange activities, such as conferences, workshops, talks, and lectures, to promote the visibility of HKU IDS in the field of data science.
Please fill in the online application form by 11:59 pm (HKT) on March 31, 2025.
The results of awarded projects will be announced no later than July 1, 2025.
Please reach out to the HKU IDS at datascience@hku.hk or 39102323