Common Core Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Celebrate Your Curiosity

The Common Core Undergraduate Research Opportunities provides the platform for all undergraduate students to join a structured research project or undertake research individually or with a small group of peers. We have opportunities for:

Community or corporate partnership projects across diverse sustainability issues
Competitions around the United Nations SDGs (U21 RISE or GenAI Hackathon for SDGs)
Start your own research project through the Transdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Project scheme

This is an opportunity to build your CV and develop your communication, collaboration, planning, creativity, and research skill.

Current Research Projects

Research at the Common Core

The Common Core takes “research” as any set of practices that formalizes, however modestly, a set of questions that move you more deeply into your own curiosity and into greater knowledge of how the world operates. This encompasses a wide range of fields from the arts through the humanities, social sciences, law, and the range of the different physical and natural sciences.

We also encourage research organised around any of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals).

Benefits to Students:

Create or inflect new knowledge, explore your deepest questions, build the skills and networks useful for your future.
Learn and practice different research methods.
Work across disciplines, cultures, and social sectors.
Build a local, regional, and international network of friends to enhance your own career plans.
Develop tangible communication, collaborative, creativity, critical thinking, and research skills.
Gain experience in a meaningful research project and build up your portfolio!
According to recent graduates, participation in research projects helps you stand-out in your CV and interviews with employers.

Faculty Mentors

We invite HKU staff, community members, or international partners with appropriate training and a commitment to student research projects across disciplines and sectors to be faculty mentors for undergraduate research projects.

This will be light-touch mentoring to help students get organized, directed towards resources, stay on track, and finish on time.

Commitment and Conduct

Students selected or approved for Common Core research projects should be committed active participation and always act respectfully to all peers, staff, and community partners involved. Students should also be respectful to the different cultural contexts and conduct themselves in the highest esteem as representatives of the University. Common Core reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to terminate or disqualify any student’s enrollment/ participation to any of the research programmes. This may occur due to various reasons, including but not limited to, changes in project requirements, availability of resources, academic performance, student conduct and behaviour, or unforeseen circumstances. By participating in Common Core projects, students acknowledge and accept this condition.