Croucher Scholarships

The Croucher Foundation is a private endowment set up in 1979 and permanently domiciled in Hong Kong, with the objective of promoting excellence in the natural sciences, technology and medicine in Hong Kong. One of the Foundation’s regular funding initiatives is to provide financial support for promising young people in Hong Kong to pursue scientific research at postdoctoral and doctoral levels.

The awards offered by the Croucher Foundation Limited (“the Foundation”) are intended to enable applicants who are permanent residents of Hong Kong to devote themselves to a period of full-time study or research in natural sciences, medicine or technology in approved academic institutions outside Hong Kong.

These awards are intended for those engaged in full-time study leading to a PhD degree. Hong Kong permanent residents only.

Applicants must have obtained First Class Honours in their first degree. Otherwise they will be expected to be able to receive substantively an MPhil degree by September 2021 to become eligible (MPhil transfer to doctoral candidature is not considered as equivalent).

Students in their final year of first degree studies may also apply, but any offer of award will be conditional on their obtaining First Class Honours upon their graduation by July 2021.

Value of the award
A Croucher Scholarship normally comprises the following:
-an annual maintenance allowance which is set at USD30,300 per annum;
-one economy class single air fare at both the beginning and end of the period of the award;
-tuition fees and college fees (where applicable);
-a one-off arrival allowance of USD1,000 to cover the costs of arriving in a new country during the first year of tenure;
-an academic development allowance of up to USD2,000 per annum to allow Croucher Scholarship 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 scholar during the entire duration of the award; and
-a commencement award of USD7,575 to be offered towards the end of doctoral studies to cover the cost of thesis preparation and travel expenses for scholars and their family members attending their graduation ceremonies.

Duration of Scholarships
Scholarships are tenable up to and including the third year of the relevant PhD studies programme. This does not therefore necessarily mean that all recipients will get three years of support, e.g. a candidate starting the Scholarship from the second year of his/her PhD study will get only two years of support, one starting from the third year of PhD will get one year, etc.

The length of the award will be explicitly stated in the grant letter when the offer is made. If the award is for more than one year, the candidate will in the first instance be “on probation” for one year, and the award for the remaining period is entirely at the Foundation’s discretion subject to confirmation upon evidence of satisfactory progress in the first year.