The Collaborative Research Fund (CRF), which is administered by the RGC, encourages research groups to engage in collaborative research across disciplines and/or across institutions with a view to enhancing the research output of institutions in terms of its level of attainment, quantity, dimensions, and/or speed. CRF is a highly competitive grant, only the most promising research projects are shortlisted for the award.

Professor Leung Yuen Sang, Dean of Arts, received the CRF 2011-12. His collaborative research project, comprising four teams from the Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore, aims at investigating, analyzing and comparing the Chinese migration experiences and their diasporic practices in the four cities during the period from 1830s to 1930s when these cities were either under direct colonial rule or indirect colonialism.