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The Research Grants Council (RGC) of the University Grants Committee has announced the funding results of the Strategic Topics Grants (STG) 2024/25. Out of the six funded projects, three are led by scholars from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which have been awarded over HK$54 million in total. CUHK scholars also take active part in projects led by other universities.

Professor Xing Guoliang, Professor in the Department of Information Engineering, received HK$39.17 million for his five-year project “Foundation Models-Empowered Ambient Intelligence Systems for Early Diagnosis, Personalised Intervention, and Complex Cross-Disease Interplay Analysis of Aging-Related Degenerative Diseases”. Professor Vincent Cheung Chi-kwan, Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, was awarded HK$10 million for his two-year research on “Personalised Rehabilitation Pathways to Maximal Motor Functional Return through an AI Recovery Prediction System for Diverse Stroke Survivors”. Professor Tsang Hon-ki, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Wei Lun Professor of Electronic Engineering, received HK$5 million for his one-year project “Silicon Photonics and the Heterogeneous Epitaxy of III-V Semiconductors on Silicon for Advanced Photonic Systems-on-chip”. (Please see the attachment for the project details.)

CUHK’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Sham Mai-har said, “We are thrilled that three CUHK projects have received support and recognition from the RGC Strategic Research Grants. We look forward to the innovative solutions that Professor Xing and Professor Zhang’s projects will bring to the medical field through the use of AI technology, addressing various healthcare challenges; Professor Tsang’s project focuses on cutting-edge research in silicon photonics, aiming to contribute in the fields of integrated circuits and opto-electronic innovation. We hope these research outcomes will help Hong Kong tackle challenges and seize emerging opportunities, accelerating societal development.”

About the Strategic Topics Grant

The Strategic Topics Grant (STG) was set up to support collaborative research in specific areas that can help Hong Kong overcome imminent challenges and capture emerging opportunities. The maximum duration of a project is five years. The maximum sum awarded to each project by the RGC is $40 million (excluding on-costs). Participating universities are required to provide 10% matching funding.