Seed Grant Scheme for Research on Population Studies

• This Scheme aims to promote and support multi-disciplinary research concerning various population-related issues.
• This Scheme supports proposals for original research studies relevant to at least one of the research clusters of the HKU Research Hub of Population Studies (“Pop Hub”), namely “Ageing”, “Children and Family”, “Gender and Sexuality”, “Health and Mortality”, “Population and Development” and “Urbanisation and Migration”.
• Only full-time professoriate staff in the Faculty of Social Sciences who are affiliated with the Pop Hub are eligible to apply for this Scheme.
• Funding per project is capped at HK$50,000, with a maximum project duration of 12 months.
• Up to six applications will be funded per academic year.
• Call for applications is made annually, usually in October or November, unless specified.

(Academic year 2025/2026)
Deadline for submitting applications: December 19, 2025.

Conference Support Scheme for Research Postgraduate (RPg) Students

• This Scheme is designed to provide financial support to full-time MPhil and PhD students for attending academic conferences.
• To qualify, applicants must be RPg students under the Faculty of Social Sciences who are affiliated with the Hub (i.e., registered as members of the Hub RPg Students' Network). Their proposed presentation or poster at the conference must align with at least one of the research themes under the HKU Research Hub of Population Studies ("Pop Hub"), namely “Ageing”, “Children and Family”, “Gender and Sexuality”, “Health and Mortality”, “Population and Development” and “Urbanisation and Migration”.
• Awardees of the RGC Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPF) or HKU Presidential PhD Scholar Programme (HK-PS) are not eligible to apply for this Scheme.
• The maximum support per approved application is HK$8,000, with up to 20 applications approved within one academic year.
• The selection criteria for receiving financial support are based on affiliates' participation and engagement, which is requiring participation in at least five events and activities organized by the Pop Hub and the RPg Students' Network.
• The call for applications is made annually, usually in February, supporting conference presentations from March to February of the following year.  Retrospective applications are generally not accepted.