Last submission deadline: 3 February 2012

Hong Kong applicants should meet fully the requirements for applying the RGC General Research Fund (GRF) (Please refer to paragraph 8(a) in Part II of Explanatory Notes for GRF Application Form "e;GRF2"e; which is mounted on the RGC website: http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/form/form.htm). Moreover, a Principal Investigator (PI) of an on-going NSFC/RGC JRS project is not allowed to submit a new application unless both collaborative partners have submitted their completion reports of the last approved project to the RGC and the NSFC before the initial application deadline. Nevertheless, he / she could participate in a new NSFC/RGC JRS funding proposal if not in the capacity as a PI. Mainland applicants should check with the NSFC for their eligibility requirements. Researchers outside Hong Kong and the Mainland may participate as members of the Hong Kong or the Mainland research team.

The main factors for consideration are the scientific merit of the proposal, the extent to which the existing strengths of each side may complement each other in a proposal and opportunities for training young researchers.