1. Objectives

To provide seed money for exploring new collaborative interdisciplinary research projects in data science that have great potential to develop into a critical mass of research excellence, and to enhance the competitiveness of staff intending to apply for basic research support from an outside funding body including RGC driven funding schemes, and to enable production of high quality and impactful research outputs in data science at world-class level.

2. Research themes to support

HKU IDS has identified several directions for strategic research development for the years to come. In the funding exercise of 2023, the themes will be mostly related to Big Data and Intelligence, particularly in the areas of

1. Foundation of data science; 
2. Explainable AI;
3. Application of data science and machine intelligence

3. The funding amount

The ceiling of the funding amount will be HK$300,000 per project, payable in 2 instalments. Depending on quality of the received proposals, we anticipate supporting up to five projects in total.

4. Eligibility

Full-time professoriate staff or other full-time ToS I staff (excluding staff in the practice and teaching professoriate categories) and Research Assistant Professors may also apply if their contract duration covers at least the first year of the project’s planned duration.

As the objective of this exercise is to foster collaborative interdisciplinary projects, each team should consist of, at minimum, a professoriate staff from other departments (as the PI) and an HKU IDS scholar (as a co-PI). Each applicant cannot be on more than two teams.

5. Call for funding

Subject to availability of funds, funding application will be open every year. This round of application will close at 11:59pm (HKT) on April 30, 2023.

Please stay tuned to be kept abreast of the latest information in the future. 

6. Duration

A maximum of 2 years

7. Assessment Criteria

1. PI’s/Co-PI’s and Co-I’s track records (i.e. grant record and publication record) over the past 3 years; and
2. A well-justified research project with ingenuity and strong collaborative nature.

The proposal should consist of both technical justification and a budgetary justification on how the fund will be spent. Details will be specified in the application form.

All proposals will be reviewed by HKU IDS scholars and leadership team collectively, in terms of their intellectual merits and interdisciplinary values.

8. Expected Deliverables

The expected deliverables should include at least one of the following:

1. Submission of an application for basic research support from an external funding body (e.g. GRF from the RGC, HMRF from the FHB);
2. Production of high quality and impactful research output(s); and/or,
3. Organization of knowledge exchange activities, including but not limited to conferences, workshops, talks, and lectures, with research or scholarly impact or events that help promote academic exchange in the field of data science

PIs/ Co-PIs and/or Co-Is must submit a 1-page interim progress report twelve months after the project commencement date, as well as a final report for the research project within three months from the completion date, to the HKU IDS.

They are also required to participate in the annual sharing of project progress among the HKU IDS community. 

9. Application procedures

1. Fill in an online application form. The form is operated on the SignNow platform;
2. Rename your application form on this system as
   “IDS Research Seed Funds 2023 – Your Name_YYYYMMDD“.
3. Click “Send invite” to proceed.
4. You will receive an email containing an electronic application form. Please complete the application form by filling in all required fields.
5. Click “Finish”. The HKU IDS admin team will then check that you have all necessary information filled out before forwarding the form to the Head for e-signature and endorsement on your behalf.
6. Please complete your e-application on or before 11:59pm (HKT) on April 30, 2023.
7. You will then receive a carbon copy of the email with the completed application form requesting for your Department Head’s endorsement. Please remind him/her to e-sign the project proposal on or before 11:59pm (HKT) on May 8, 2023.

10. Guidelines for funding assessment and budget usage

Guidelines for IDS-RSF 2023 Application

11. Template of the e-application form

Sample e-application form

12. Enquiries

Please contact HKU IDS at datascience@hku.hk or 3910-2323.