All eight UGC-funded universities are eligible to nominate up to five candidates under the disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences Panel. Eligible applicant should be an academic staff member of a UGC-funded university with conditions of employment meeting ALL the following requirements: 

• having a full-time^[1] appointment in the university proper^[2] of UGC-funded universities;
• being at Staff Grades from 'A' to 'I'^[3] (i.e. from 'Professor' to 'Assistant Lecturer');
• being primarily engaged in and spending at least 80% of time in degree or higher degree work^[4] at the university proper; and
• salary being wholly funded^[5] by the university proper.

An academic staff member who is engaged in non-degree programmes wholly funded by the General Funds of the university concerned may also be eligible. Visiting scholars are not eligible for being nominated under the HSSPFS. Awardees of HSSPFS cannot compete again in future exercises.

The assessment criteria are as follows:

• academic quality/merit;
  1. scientific and scholarly merit of the proposal;
  2. qualifications and track record of the investigator;
  3. originality;
  4. feasibility within the time-scale of the proposal.
• university’s commitment;
• contribution to academic/professional development (where applicable);
• potential for social, cultural or economic application; and
• availability of, and potential for, non-RGC funding.

https://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc/funding_opport/hsspfs/how_to_apply.html