These are educational awards for graduates who obtained their doctoral degrees after September 2022. It is worth noting that these awards are not primarily meant as grants for enabling a university or institution to employ research personnel for research projects. Some Fellowships are also available for fully qualified medical doctors who wish to pursue research under a speciality.

We will view your application more favourably if you are proposing to move to a new institution. Please note that we cannot consider applications who are already receiving full financial support from their proposed host institutions/supervisors.

A Croucher Fellowship normally comprises the following:

• an annual maintenance allowance which is set at USD56,700 per annum;
• a one-way economy class air fare at both the beginning and end of tenure;
• a one-off arrival allowance of USD1,000 to cover the costs of arriving in a new country during the first year of tenure;
• a research allowance of up to USD15,000 per annum to be used at the discretion of the award recipient for research expenses;
• an academic development allowance of up to USD2,000 per annum to allow Croucher Fellowship recipients to attend conferences, workshops or courses during the tenure of their awards;
• a medical insurance allowance of up to USD2,000 per annum to cover medical insurance costs;
• a family allowance of up to USD16,000 per annum for the first child and up to USD6,800 per annum for every additional child who resides with the fellow during the entire duration of the award; and
• a science education allowance to offer support to those Croucher award recipients particularly interested in science education through well-designed activities and projects in schools and in the wider community.  Interested scholars are invited to submit proposals to the Foundation for consideration of a programme of activities designed to involve school students, teachers, families and/or other non-specialist audiences in dialogue and debate, within the tenure of their awards.their awards.

The fellowship is up to two years. If you are successful, the length of the award will be explicitly stated in your offer letter. If your award is for more than one year, you will be “on probation” for your first year. This means that we will check that you are making satisfactory progress before we extend your fellowship for the second year.

All applications should be submitted via the Croucher Foundation’s online application system. For the 2024-25 selection exercise, applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. (Hong Kong time) on 15th November 2023 at the latest.

Please invite two referees to provide signed letters of reference for you (with your full name) on letterhead to be sent directly to references@croucher.org.hk (as a PDF), or by fax to (852) 2730 0742 by the deadline above.

Please make sure the following documents in PDF format (each not exceeding 8MB) have been uploaded to your application:

• a document, up to 6 pages in length, including a proposal describing the research you wish to undertake, which should include the names of potential supervisors and their research groups; a description of the candidate’s research experience, and a list of publications. Please note that once your proposal has been submitted, it cannot be amended;
• copies of your HKCEE and HKALE or HKDSE certificates or equivalent qualifications and copies of official transcripts of your university records;
• copies of reprints of up to three of your most significant publications (if applicable); and
• documentation to prove that you are a permanent resident of Hong Kong, which is a pre-requisite to the award. (For applicants who choose to use their ID card copies, please make sure that both sides of the ID card are provided. Please note that we will not be able to progress your application if there is any doubt about your residential status, for example because you have not provided the right documentation.)

Short-listed candidates will be invited to attend an interview in March/April 2024. If you are not contacted by late April, you may consider that you have not been shortlisted. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide feedback on unsuccessful applications. We will aim to write to unsuccessful applicants by late May, if not earlier.

While we cannot provide support on any aspect of your proposal, if you have questions about the application process, you can email us at info@croucher.org.hk.

The terms of Croucher Foundation study awards include a supplementary start-up allowance payable to Croucher Fellowship recipients upon the completion of tenure to return to Hong Kong to take up tenure-track faculty positions in University Grants Committee funded higher education institutions in Hong Kong within six years of graduation with a doctoral degree. This allowance enables recipients to have funds available immediately upon arrival in Hong Kong for research expenses including salaries for research assistants, purchase of laboratory equipment and consumables. Croucher Fellows who wish to apply please send an email to info@croucher.org.hk enclosing a copy of their employment offer letter, a copy of their PhD certificate and a brief research proposal (up to 4 sides of A4 paper) for consideration.

The Foundation introduced a new funding initiative for all Croucher award recipients at any career stage who wish to use their scientific and technological expertise to set up companies with linkages with Hong Kong. All Croucher award recipients from any year may apply. Successful applicants will receive a grant of up to HK$1 million from the Croucher Foundation payable to their company. The initiative supports founders at the earliest stage. Award recipients already receiving seed funding or early stage venture capital from other sources are not encouraged to apply. If you wish to find out more about Start-up 2.0 check the page https://croucher.org.hk/startup-2-0.

Even for permanent Hong Kong residents, under British capital gains tax provisions, any award is liable to be taxable income if the beneficiary is already domiciled in Britain, or if he/she intends to take up residence in Britain in future. The report and payment of such tax is an individual matter and not the responsibility of the Foundation. 

All successful candidates for a Croucher award will be required to sign a statement, at the time of the offer of the award, to declare that they are not domiciled in Britain, and that they do not intend to become British domiciled, and in the event that they become eventually domiciled in Britain after receiving a Croucher award, they will be responsible for discharging all fiscal responsibilities in regard to the award.

Through a separate partnership agreement with the Max Planck Society, the Foundation will specially favour Hong Kong fresh doctoral graduates with a number of full fellowships for pursuing postdoctoral research at a Max Planck Institute belonging either to the Biology and Medicine section or to the Chemistry, Physics and Technology section.

Applicants putting one of the Max Planck Institutes as their proposed host will be automatically considered for “The Max Planck Croucher Postdoctoral Fellowship”.