HKU Research Output at a Glance: RAE, RGC Funding, Nature Index & Citation Performance

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Comprehensive Information Database · 04 Research Module This article quantifies HKU's overall research performance: results from the UGC's Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the Research Grants Council's (RGC) competitive funding outcomes, the Nature Index and its disciplinary breakdown, and citation/highly cited researcher performance. All figures are time-sensitive and differ in coverage; sources and years are noted in situ.

# 1. Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2020)

# 1.1 What is the RAE?

The RAE is a periodic assessment of research quality at UGC-funded universities conducted by the University Grants Committee (UGC). It uses a four-star scale: 4-star = world-leading, 3-star = internationally excellent, and lower ratings. The most recent round, RAE 2020, was announced on 24 May 2021, according to the UGC press release^※, assessing research completed between October 2013 and September 2019.

# 1.2 Overall Hong Kong Results (Baseline)

According to the UGC press release^※, RAE 2020 involved 8 UGC-funded universities, assessing some 16,000 research outputs (from roughly 4,200 eligible academic staff), 340 impact case studies, and 190 environment statements. Across Hong Kong, about 70% of research was rated "internationally excellent" or above, with 25% judged "world-leading (4-star)" and 45% "internationally excellent (3-star)". These territory-wide figures serve as the baseline for gauging an individual university's performance.

# 1.3 HKU's Performance

HKU achieved leading results in multiple Units of Assessment (UoAs) in RAE 2020. According to the HKU Research Assessment Exercise page^※ and various faculty announcements:

• Faculty of Science: According to the Faculty of Science announcement^※, it achieved the highest proportion of 4-star ratings in UoAs including chemistry, earth science and other physical sciences, and mathematics and statistics; about 37% of all submitted research across the Faculty was judged world-leading (4-star). Its Mathematics and Statistics UoA had the highest 4-star proportion in Hong Kong among comparable units.
• Faculty of Law: Multiple announcements confirm that HKU Law received the highest 4-star scores across all categories in the Law assessment panel.
• Mechanical Engineering: The relevant UoA achieved the highest proportion of world-leading (4-star) research among UGC-funded universities.
• Faculty of Education: Attained a 100% 4-star rating in the "research environment" sub-profile.

Note: The overall university-wide 4-star/3-star percentages for RAE involve many nuanced sub-divisions. This repository only records unit-level results directly stated in official or faculty announcements and does not independently amalgamate figures to calculate a "total university score".

# 2. Research Grants Council (RGC) Competitive Funding

# 2.1 The 2025/26 Exercise: HKU Leads

According to HKU press release "HKU leads in RGC's research funding exercise for 2025/26"^※ (17 August 2025), HKU led local institutions in the 2025/26 round of RGC funding:

# 2.2 Other RGC Schemes

According to the HKU press release^※, HKU continues to secure funding under RGC schemes such as the Collaborative Research Fund — for instance, that release reports 12 HKU research projects receiving HK$72 million in funding. For large-scale project funding under schemes like the Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS), see §6 of institutes-and-labs.md.

# 2.3 Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS)

The Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) is an RGC-funded, large-scale, multi-year flagship programme focusing on four strategic themes: promoting good health, developing a sustainable environment, strengthening Hong Kong's strategic position as a regional and international business centre, and advancing emerging research and innovations of importance to Hong Kong. According to the HKU Research Services "TRS 6th Round" page^※ and an HKU press release^※, in the 2022/23 (12th Round) TRS exercise, HKU's 5 projects received a total of HK$168 million (comprising HK$149 million from the RGC and HK$19 million in university matching funds), covering all four strategic themes. Specific projects include "ReRACE: ReRAM AI Chips on the Edge" (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering) and "Towards Carbon Neutrality: Catalysing Water and CO₂ to Green Resource Carriers" (Department of Chemistry, receiving approximately HK$43.01 million). According to the HKU Research Services page^※, cumulatively across all TRS rounds, projects coordinated by HKU account for a significant proportion of funded projects (with the page noting at one point it was 27 out of 60 funded projects), placing HKU as the leader among local universities.

# 2.4 Areas of Excellence (AoE)

The Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme was launched by the UGC in 1998 to support funded universities in developing their existing strengths into "areas of excellence". According to the HKU AoE page^※ and a Faculty of Science report^※, HKU has led or participated in multiple AoE projects across various rounds. Examples include the AoE on Molecular Functional Materials (coordinated by Professor Vivian W. W. Yam of the Department of Chemistry) and projects in physics such as those on two-dimensional materials and metamaterials (with the 2D materials project receiving over HK$80 million, according to the Faculty of Science report). Together with State Key Laboratories and InnoHK centres, AoEs form the dual pillars of HKU's "competitive funding + platform development" strategy (see institutes-and-labs.md for platforms).

# 3. Nature Index

# 3.1 HKU's Overall Output

The Nature Index tracks research article output in a curated group of roughly 145 high-quality natural science and health science journals, providing an absolute article count (Count) and a fractional count reflecting author contributions (Share). According to the Nature Index institutional page for HKU^※, for the statistical period from October 2024 to September 2025, HKU's overall output was a Count of roughly 1,140 and a Share of roughly 231.42.

# 3.2 Disciplinary Breakdown

According to the same Nature Index page for HKU, HKU's output by discipline (Share) is broadly distributed as follows:

Leading research topics include Clinical Sciences and Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, among others.

# 4. Citation & Highly Cited Performance

HKU scholars have a sustained presence in international citation rankings and "Highly Cited Researchers" lists. According to an HKU researcher blog post, "Top HKU Researchers in Research.com Rankings 2024"^※, numerous HKU academics appear in disciplinary researcher rankings by organisations such as Research.com. Aggregate ranking bodies like CWUR also place HKU at the forefront globally for research performance (according to the CWUR HKU page^※).

# 5. Summary and Verifiable Absences

• Sources securely provided: RAE 2020 overall Hong Kong and HKU unit results (UGC/HKU official); RGC 2025/26 funding (HKU official, including GRF/ECS figures); Nature Index output and disciplinary breakdown for HKU (Nature official data).
• Coverage handled with caution: A "university-wide total percentage" for RAE has not been independently amalgamated; RGC figures are confined to officially published years; the Nature Index's disciplinary coverage is limited; highly cited lists have inconsistent methodologies and are only summarised.
• Verifiable Absences / Deferred to other articles: A single authoritative figure for HKU's total annual research funding/research income is dispersed across different public accounts (government block grants + competitive funding + donations + contract research). This repository has not located a single official aggregate figure, marked as Verifiably Absent (for a financial overview, see ../08-finances/). For specific spin-off companies and technology transfer outputs, see output-and-startups.md.