Possible conflict of interest flagged in applications to Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council

Concern group uncovers cases in which two academics received almost HK$100 million from public body of which they were also members

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Dr Roger Wong highlighted possible conflict of interest over grant applications. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 10:45pm, 4 Dec 2016Updated: 8:15am, 5 Dec 2016

The public administrator for research funding has again come under fire for alleged conflicts of interest after nearly HK$100 million in research grants was given to two senior academics, including one provost.

A concern group has called on the Research Grants Council to clarify whether two senior academics at two top research universities had thoroughly declared their interests as members of the council before applying for grants from them.

Dr Roger Wong Hoi-fung, who heads the concern group, said he suspected the academics essentially “vetted themselves” for upwards of HK$95 million in public funding between 2013 and 2015 given that they were simultaneously members of the council.

His findings come two weeks after the government auditor criticised the council over the way it managed conflicts of interest. Among the problems revealed by the watchdog in its latest report was missing documentary evidence showing that the council had reviewed or approved individual projects.

The audit review also found that six out of 3,314 projects under three funding schemes approved in the 2013/14 and 2015/16 academic years involved four principal investigators who were council members – professors Paul Tam Kwong-hang and Terry Au Kit-fong of the University of Hong Kong, Ross Murch of the University of Science and Technology and Peter Baehr of Lingnan University.

Only Tam and Baehr are currently listed as council members.

Wong’s group on Sunday pointed to Tam and Murch’s involvement in at least two “theme-based research projects” between 2013 and 2015, whose interests it said had not been disclosed. Unlike regular joint research projects – the focus of the auditor’s probe – only a few theme-based research schemes are approved each term.There were just five in 2015/16.