Research is essential to academic life. It informs teaching, pushes boundaries of knowledge and technology to address the world’s grand challenges, and enhances human well-being and business competitiveness. PolyU is dedicated to maintaining a strong tradition of innovative research and is committed to fostering an environment that enables stellar research.
Research Committee and Graduate School Board
The Senate delegates all matters pertaining to research and research degrees to the Research Committee and Graduate School Board, respectively. The Research Committee and the Graduate School Board are responsible for monitoring research governance and integrity, reviewing and formulating research policies/regulations /protocols, allocating funds, and overseeing research progress and quality, as well as ensuring quality assurance of research education. The Research and Innovation Office implements the Research Committee’s policies and decisions, while the Graduate School implements research degrees related policies and decisions made by the Graduate School Board.
Faculty/School/Department Research Committees are established to monitor the progress and quality of research activities. This governance structure provides a mechanism for formulating research policies that align with the University’s strategic directions, ensuring effective policy implementation and resources allocation, and upholding quality assurance and accountability. In addition, the appointment of a Director of Research Postgraduate Studies in each department and school, along with the establishment of the Research Postgraduate Programme Committee at the Graduate School, provides a structured framework for oversight and management of research degree programmes.
Conduct of Research
Policies and guidelines on the research resources allocation and monitoring are outlined in the Handbook for Projects and Grants. The policies and guidelines are in place to ensure effective use of resources and are regularly reviewed by the Research Committee. To align with the strategic development of the University, resources have been allocated to the Areas of Excellence Committee to support strategic research areas of the University.
To maintain the highest standards in the conduct of research, the Research Committee has developed a Code of Ethics to provide staff and students with an understanding of the principles of research integrity and ethics. The Institutional Review Board and the Animals Subject Ethics Sub-committee under the Research Committee are tasked with ensuring that staff and students using human or animal subjects in their research comply with the respective Code of Ethics. The Health and Safety Guidelines of the University are developed by the Health and Safety Office to ensure that research activities comply with prevailing safety laws.
All researchers must observe the University’s Policy on Ownership of Intellectual Property when undertaking activities which involve the generation of intellectual property.
The Open Access Policy in Support of Open and Unrestricted Access to Published Research is in place to guide researchers on retaining research outputs in PolyU Institutional Research Archive. The Research Data Repository is available to promote Open Data, enabling researchers across disciplines to conduct new analyses and generate interdisciplinary research by examining existing data from fresh perspectives.
Research Postgraduate Programmes
The University offers outcome-based Research Postgraduate Programmes. Programme validation is conducted according to the Guidelines and Regulations for Outcome-based Research Postgraduate Programmes to ensure that these programmes meet the expected standards, and help departments and teaching staff concerned to improve all aspects of the programme. Programmes are also subject to regular review, which is part of the University’s quality learning and teaching assurance process.
The study of research postgraduate students is governed by the Integrated Regulations and Administrative Procedures for Research Postgraduate Programmes and the Research Postgraduate Student Handbook. These regulations and procedures are reviewed on a regular basis by the Graduate School Board and changes made when necessary. The University promotes collaborative PhD programmes through partnerships with leading universities and recruits top students through various PhD scholarship schemes. The Unified Collaborative PhD Framework, the Unified PhD Scholarship Framework, and the Unified PhD Assessment Framework offer clear guidelines and processes for staff to identify and attract talented candidates, while also fostering strong collaborations with partner institutions. By streamlining recruitment and strengthening partnership strategies, the University can maximise its resources and enhance the overall success and impact of its PhD programmes.
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