Seed grantS

Please send your application to
sbmehead@hku.hk

Deadline for application:
15 December 2025

Download the list of PI

The Seed Grants sponsored by the School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at the University of Hong Kong are designed to foster innovative, interdisciplinary research collaborations that align with the mission of the School. These grants aim to support early-stage, high-potential projects that bring together Principal Investigators (PI) from different disciplines across the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering, Science, and Dentistry to address complex challenges in human health and biomedical innovation.

By providing initial funding, the Seed Grants serve as a springboard for novel ideas, enabling researchers to generate preliminary data, explore new methodologies, and establish collaborative frameworks. The ultimate goal is to catalyze larger-scale research initiatives that can attract competitive external funding and contribute to impactful scientific discoveries, translational applications, and societal benefit.

This initiative also reflects SBME’s commitment to building a vibrant, collaborative research ecosystem that emphasizes creativity, cross-disciplinary synergy, and a forward-looking vision for the future of biomedical engineering.
All applicants must hold a full-time or joint appointment in SBME.

All applicants must have an academic position at HKU, at least at the Research Assistant Professor (RAP) level or above.

Each application must include at least two co-PIs.

At least one co-PI must be from a different partnering Faculty of SBME (i.e., Medicine, Engineering, Science, or Dentistry) than the other co-PI(s). For example, an application can include 2 PI’s from Engineering partnering with one PI from Dentistry.

Each PI can only make one application in each round (i.e. a PI can only be part of one application in each round).

Each PI can concurrently hold more than one Seed Grant, but these grants must be with different co-PIs.
Maximum award: HKD$500,000 per project.

Project duration: 1 to 2 years.

Funding may be used for personnel, consumables, equipment, and other direct research costs. Overhead costs are not covered.
Applicants must submit the following documents:

A 1–2 page scientific proposal (Font Arial 11point, 1.5 line spacing, 2cm borders),, including the following information:

Project objectives and significance

Methodology and expected outcomes

Justification why the collaboration is essential to achieve the aims of the grant

How the collaboration will be conducted (personnel and infrastructure involved, frequency of meetings, etc).

Preliminary data and/or figures (if available)

A separate page outlining the proposed budget with a budget justification.

2 page CVs of all co-applicants (including a list of 5 recent papers relevant to the application)

Application deadlines will be announced once per year
Applications will be reviewed by a selection panel appointed by the SBME Steering Committee, consisting of the SBME Director and at least one representative from each participating Faculty.

The selection criteria will be based on:

Scientific merit and innovation

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Feasibility

Potential for attracting future external funding
Awardees will be required to submit a brief final report at the end of the funding duration, as well as to present the results at an upcoming SBME Symposium and/or Seed Fund Minisymposium.