Thanks for your interest in the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) programs in the School of Computing & Data Science at the University of Hong Kong. In this department, we provide a variety of research areas for pursuing, and have outstanding professors doing active research in these areas. You are encouraged to carefully read the admission requirements and follow the application steps.

You are welcome to read up-to-date recruitment messages and expectations for future research students from individual professors in each research group.

The early recruitment scheme for graduate studies starting in 2025 at The School of Computing & Data Science at HKU (HKU CDS) now invites applications from outstanding undergraduate students and master students studying in premier universities in both mainland China and the rest of the world. The faculty members of HKU CDS include many internationally renowned scholars in diverse fields of Computer and Data Science, such as Statistics and Actuarial Science, Machine Learning and AI Algorithms, Bioinformatics, Computer Forensic, Information Security, Computer Vision and Graphics, Human-Computer Interaction, Database and Data Mining, Network, Programming Languages, Quantum Information and Computation, and Systems. 

Deadlines:

(1^st early recruitment round) 11:59pm, 1st May, 2026 (Interview in early May, 2026)

(2^nd early recruitment round) 11:59pm, 31st August, 2026 (Interview in September, 2026)

After the early recruitment deadlines, you are welcome to apply for our main round.

To apply for Early Recruitment Rounds please refer to http://i.cs.hku.hk/~gradappl/

1. All applicants must satisfy the respective admission requirements prescribed by The University, which normally requires a Bachelor's degree with honours from this University, or an equivalent qualification from another university or comparable institution. Applicants with other qualifications or experience may be admitted under exceptional circumstances.
2. Applicants who do not hold a degree from an institution using English as the language of instruction and examination are required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and obtain an Internet-based score of 85) or above. Applicants can apply to use result from English proficiency tests such as IELTS, GCE, IGCSE, and CPE to satisfy the English Requirement.
3. Applications are required to submit a Research Proposal giving a clear description of a particular aspect of the field in which they are interested in pursuing, and explaining the particular approach they propose to take in studying the subject matter.

• HKU Presidential PhD Scholarship
  Up to around HK$443,300 (US$55,560) in the first year, and up to around HK$413,300 (US$52,999) in each of the subsequent years.
• Hong Kong PhD Fellowships (HKPF) offered by the Research Grants Council 
  Same amount as HKU Presidential PhD Scholarship
  (Please visit: https://cerg1.ugc.edu.hk/hkpfs/index.html for details)
  *Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS) offered by HKU 
  At least HK$225,120 per year
• HKPF awardees will not be concurrently awarded PGS