Dissertation Year Fellowship

On the Donor

The Dissertation Year Fellowship is a prestigious programme to enable selected outstanding final year PhD students to pursue an additional year of training at the University to bring their doctoral research to a higher level before graduation.  The Fellowship allows more time for students to work on their research and improve publication, and helps students to find better job after graduation. 

Purpose and Scope

Up to 100 fellowships may be made each year to outstanding full-time PhD students who have submitted a thesis for examination on the basis of the following aspects:  

• the quality of thesis: the PhD thesis should be rated by the Thesis Examining Committee as “outstanding (top 5%)” or “excellent (top 10%)”;
• the potential for the student to generate at least one research output regarded as 4 star (world leading) or 3 star (internationally excellent) according to the evaluation guidelines adopted for UGC RAE 2020 after one additional year of training; 
• publication records; and
• the recommendations of the primary supervisor, Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee (DRPC) and Faculty Higher Degrees Committee (FHDC). 

Each fellowship holder shall receive

• a Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS) equivalent to the HKU Presidential PhD Scholarship for up to 12 months;
• conference support for up to $13,500 per year; and
• a waiver of the continuation fee during the fellowship period.