Hong Kong protests: applications pour in for government cash to research city’s civil unrest
- Several proposals to examine causes of unrest, youth participation in policymaking
- Experts say research may aid discussion, but cannot deliver solutions to city’s woes
More than 200 applications have poured in from scholars and think tanks for a special government research grant to examine Hong Kong’s ongoing civil unrest.
Approved projects will receive grants of up to HK$500,000 through the public policy research funding scheme managed by the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office (Pico), a strategic research unit that reports directly to city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
Pico unveiled the special round of public policy funding last November, inviting researchers from universities, think tanks and non-governmental organisations to submit proposals for in-depth research to help identify the underlying causes and solutions for Hong Kong’s deep-seated problems.
It hoped the studies would provide “useful data and input” for an independent review committee proposed by Lam to break the political impasse.
