Foundation awards $23m for studies

The Croucher Foundation is to award $23 million this year to 27 young scientists to enable them to pursue their research studies abroad.

Seventeen postdoctoral scientists and 10 doctoral students have been selected from 145 applicants to receive the awards. They include 20 currently studying in universities in Hong Kong and seven Hong Kong students already on degree courses in the UK and the US.

The Croucher Foundation is providing full scholarships, covering tuition fees, stipends, airfare and allowances for attending international conferences. They are restricted to doctoral and postdoctoral studies in natural science, technology and medicine. The maximum for a doctoral scholarship may be as high as $1.21 million. For a two-year postdoctoral fellowship the maximum is $760,000.

A spokesman for the foundation said most recipients of the awards gained admission to the world's top scientific institutions to continue their studies.

The Croucher Foundation is a private endowment founded by the late Noel Croucher to support natural science, technology and medicine in Hong Kong.

As well as funding scientific activities in Hong Kong's universities, the foundation has since 1979 provided over $200 million in scholarship and fellowship awards for postgraduate students of Hong Kong to be trained at premiere institutions abroad.