Hearty congratulations to Professor Ying-yi Hong, Co-Convenor of the Global China Research Programme of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, for being awarded the Research Grants Council’s (RGC) Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) 2021/22 for her distinguished research achievement.

The RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) aims to provide sustained support and relief from teaching and administrative duties to exceptionally outstanding researchers at Associate Professor or full Professor rank at UGC-funded universities in Hong Kong, with a view to facilitating their full dedication to research and training of young researchers, thereby helping local universities attract and retain research talents. Each SRFS awardee will be conferred the title “RGC Senior Research Fellow” and is funded with a fellowship grant of around HK$7.8 million over a period of 60 months to conduct their research project.

Prof. Hong’s award-winning research project is “Understanding the Psychological Underpinnings of Identities and Intergroup Relations during Socio-Political Transitions – The Case of Hong Kong”. It aims to elucidate the psychological underpinnings of maintaining positive intergroup relations in the current Hong Kong context. The research project will also develop a testable framework for researchers and policymakers to generate novel predictions on how policy and social change may affect intragroup and intergroup relations in Hong Kong and beyond. The research findings will have global implications.