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About Croucher ASI
The Croucher Foundation
The Croucher Foundation is an independent private foundation established by the late Noel Croucher in 1979 to promote the standard of the natural sciences, technology and medicine in Hong Kong. The work of the Foundation is organised into five broad areas:
scholarships and fellowships for promising young Hong Kong scientists and medical doctors to pursue research overseas;
senior research fellowships to enable leading scientists in Hong Kong to spend a sabbatical year away from teaching and administrative work;
conferences, workshops and collaborative research to facilitate the exchange of ideas between Hong Kong scientists and their counterparts overseas;
demonstration lectures to promote a wider understanding of science among Hong Kong school students and undergraduate students; and
support for any undergraduate or postgraduate student in Hong Kong experiencing sudden financial difficulty.
Noel Croucher entrusted the governance of his Foundation to the discretion of a Board of Trustees. Lord Todd, the Nobel Laureate and Master of Christ’s College, Cambridge was the founding President of the Foundation. The current Chairman is Professor Tak Wah Mak, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences and an internationally recognised pioneer in the fields of immunology and cancer research. Professor Mak took up the chairmanship of the Croucher Foundation in June 2011. The immediate past Chairman is Professor Yuet Wai Kan FRS., CUHK
Advanced Study Institute (ASI)
Purpose and Form
An Advanced Study Institute (ASI) is a high-level teaching activity where a carefully defined subject, systematically presented, is treated in depth by lecturers of international standing, and new advances in a subject, not taught elsewhere, are reported in tutorial form. ASIs, as short courses, contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and the formation of international scientific contacts. The teaching in ASIs is aimed at established scientists with substantial scientific background in the topic being proposed. This type of event is NOT primarily targeted at postgraduate students and should not be used for that purpose. ASIs must be a standalone event with a duration of 5 to 8 working days to give adequate time for the development of a topic and allow for sufficient interaction between the scientists. The time should be mainly devoted to lectures or teaching activities, and not to the rigid format of presentation of papers. Poster sessions should generally take place in the evening.
Fields of Science
ASIs in any scientific discipline and/or technology can be supported. ASIs should deal with subjects in which new advances are reported in tutorial form. An interdisciplinary ASI may be organised where specialists in one field teach scientists highly qualified in another, with roles being interchanged as the theme of common interest is developed from the viewpoints of the different sciences. Interdisciplinary meetings require particular care in preparation.
ASI Director and Organizing Committee
The Applicant should assume the role of the Director of the ASI concerned, and must specifically provide under Section 10 of the application form details about his/her own scientific background in connection with the topic proposed for the ASI. The ASI Director is responsible for the preparation of the scientific programme, the selection of participants, and the administration of the meeting. He/she should, inter alia, ensure the evolution of the lecture programme as a teaching exercise, encourage the formation of smaller tutorial groups, support the participants’ expression of their own work, normally through poster sessions, indicate relevant reference material, and ensure the delivery of final texts for publication. The ASI Director should publicise the ASI to attract target participants. He/she may be assisted by a small Organising Committee preferably composed of three to four scientists from more than one institution and, if appropriate, from different research sectors.
Participation
The choice of lecturers and ASI participants is the responsibility of the ASI Director assisted by the Organizing Committee. ASI participants should be chosen for their appropriate qualifications following their responses to both open announcements in universities and relevant professional communities inside Hong Kong and by invitation. An ASI is primarily aimed at established “senior” scientists. Exceptionally, only a very small number of dcotoral or postdoctoral students may be invited, but they count as observers and should not take precedence over senior scientists. Lecturers and ASI participants are expected to stay for the entire duration of the ASI to ensure full interaction.
ASI participants must be of sufficient calibre to contribute at a high level. Prospective lecturers may be approached before preparation of the application; an indication of their degree of commitment to participate will help the application since this has a bearing on the assessment of the application. Applications with a low degree of lecturer commitment stand a reduced chance of being awarded. If a grant is approved, the Applicant must confirm to the Foundation that the lecturers proposed will attend the ASI. There should be no more than 6 lecturers for each ASI to make the size manageable.
The majority of ASI course participants should be from Hong Kong and preferably from more than one university. Some from outside Hong Kong, particularly from Asian countries/territories, may be allowed, if they have promising potential in scientific interaction and collaboration with Hong Kong, but this should not exceed 25% of the total number of ASI participants.
Those applications that have an applied aspect, and especially where relevance to industry is declared, would be strengthened by inclusion of a noted industrial scientist or engineer, both on the Organising Committee and among the lecturers.
Funding
The Croucher award is intended to cover direct organisational expenses, the travel and living expenses of lecturers, and to contribute to some ASI participants’ travel and living expenses. Only ASI participants from outside Hong Kong can be subsidised from the Croucher grant for travel and accommodation expenses. The level of funding awarded to organise an ASI is determined by the Croucher Foundation Limited (“the Foundation”) on a case by case basis, taking into account the number of lecturers, and the size, duration and location of the meeting.
The ASI Director should minimise costs through efficient organisation and choice of location. To make optimal use of funds, the ASI Director should decide on the most appropriate allocation of funds to the various lines of the budget and the level of support to individual participants. Entertainment expenses should be minimized.
As a condition of the grant, the meeting must be designated a “Croucher Advanced Study Institute”. The Organising Committee must not charge any participant fee.
Location
ASIs are to be held in Hong Kong preferably on the premises of a university, or establishments which are willing to reduce rental and related costs to a minimum. It is not a programme to be held at expensive conference venues.
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