Gambling harms research grants

Full Job Description

Opportunity status: Open

Funders:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK Research and Innovation

Funding type: Grant

Total fund: £18,000,000

Maximum award: £2,000,000

Publication date: 21 September 2026

Opening date:

21 September 2026 9:00am UK time

Closing date:

8 December 2026 4:00pm UK time

Apply for funding that deepens understanding or supports solutions for the prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms.

To lead an application, you must be based at a research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.

This funding opportunity is open to research communities across all UKRI research councils. Interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approaches are encouraged.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2 million, for up to three years.

UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.

Eligibility

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Project leads must be based at a UK research institution eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Teams may involve single or multiple institutions. The lead organisation will be responsible for submitting the grant application.

Researchers may submit one application to this funding opportunity as project lead but may be involved in other applications as a project co-lead.

Who Is Eligible To Apply

This funding opportunity is open to research communities across all UKRI research councils. It is a UKRI funding opportunity, delivered by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

To lead the award, your organisation must have standard eligibility for UKRI funding, which include:

• UK higher education providers (HEPs)

• UKRI institutes

• independent research organisations approved by UKRI

• public sector research establishments or NHS bodies approved by UKRI

This funding opportunity is also open to the following organisations with non-standard eligibility to apply as a project co-lead, provided they can demonstrate the capacity to co-lead and manage a significant research and innovation project:

• international research organisations

• other educational establishments

• charities and third sector organisations

• government departments and non-governmental organisations

• social enterprises and UK registered businesses

Further guidance for including UK project co-leads from organisations with non-standard eligibility is provided in the ESRC Project co-leads from UK business, third sector or government organisations policy. These organisations will need to go through due diligence checks before being awarded funding. Further details can be found on how to apply to be an eligible organisation.

It is the responsibility of the lead research organisation to check eligibility of all collaborating organisations (UK and international) and the eligibility of individuals for their proposed roles. Applications submitted with ineligible applicants will be rejected by the UKRI office.

See AHRC’s funding guide for further information on institutional and individual contractual eligibility requirements for applicants.

These organisations can also contribute as project partners if they are not a project co-lead. For more information see the Collaborators section.

Further Eligibility Requirements

Applications must be team based and must bring together diverse people, expertise, experiences, places and wider stakeholders. This includes people with lived and learned experience from gambling and gambling related harms.

By lived experience, we mean people with direct experience of gambling related harms.

Partnerships with non-academic higher education institutions and people across the third sector, community groups, industry, the public sector, people with lived experience and the public are important. These kinds of collaborations can strengthen the diversity, innovation and potential for impact from research activities.

By ‘industry’ we mean any enterprise that places goods or services on a market and whose commercial activities constitute more than 20% of its annual operations. This definition applies across all sectors and is not limited to organisations within the gambling industry. However, there are sensitivities with respect to partnerships with businesses, the gambling industry or otherwise, meaning additional care should be taken to manage risks and potential conflicts of interest.

Any engagement with industry partners, especially those from the gambling sector, must be demonstrably independent, evidence-based and research-led. Engagement must align with the programme’s public interest objectives to further understanding of gambling-related harms and should be discussed with UKRI prior to submission of an application via the UKRI RPG inbox: RPGinfo@ahrc.ukri.org

All applications will be subject to robust scrutiny through our expert review and governance processes. Particular attention will be paid to the independence and integrity of the research, the source and independence of the findings and the potential for real-world impact in understanding gambling behaviour and reducing gambling harms.

We wish to clarify that, as well as not being permitted to host awards, under the Research Programme on Gambling, UKRI does not permit funding to be provided to Gambling Commission licence holders who are subject to the levy.

Co-funding from Gambling Commission license holder is not permitted. Furthermore, we would not expect individual researchers to concurrently hold funding from licence holders subject to the levy while receiving funding from the Research Programme on Gambling.

We do not permit engagement with industries whose core business can be associated with harm to public health or societal wellbeing, in line with our ethical standards and harms-based exclusion principles. This includes the gambling industry.

Exceptions may be made for time-limited, purpose-specific interactions deemed essential to achieving legitimate and high-quality research objectives (for example, access to proprietary datasets or materials), provided that:

• there is no direct funding or co-authorship from the excluded entity

• the interaction is subject to robust ethical review and declared transparently

• appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent undue influence, reputational risk or conflicts of interest

• the public benefit of the research demonstrably outweighs the risks of engagement

Such exceptions must be approved in advance through our due diligence and governance mechanisms. You should consider our policies and guidance on Preventing harm in research when preparing applications to this funding opportunity.

An indication of required datasets, sources or both, must be included in the application. Where access to data has been established or agreed in principle, this must be confirmed via letters of support from relevant data controllers or data services. Any relevant data gaps or needs should be highlighted, and plans for addressing them outlined.

You should declare in the declaration of interest section of your application that you are compliant with these requirements for the duration of the programme.

Collaborations can take different forms including project partners or collaborating organisations. You must demonstrate how the collaborations within your team are equitable, have contributed to the development of your application including its conceptualisation, are not compromised by non-compliance with our conflict of interest policy, and will help the centre achieve its aims.

Collaborators

You may have collaborators on your project in addition to those listed in the core team.

Project Partners

A project partner is defined as a third-party person or organisation (including international or non-academic collaborations) who provides specific contributions to the team and project.

Project partners are expected to provide contributions to the delivery of the project, either in cash or in kind, and should not therefore be seeking to claim funds from UKRI.

Organisations that are applicants on the project, including any named applicants’ organisations, cannot also be a project partner. UKRI head office staff acting in their capacity as a UKRI employee are not eligible to be project partners.

Project Subcontractor

A project subcontractor is defined as a third-party individual who is not employed as staff on the grant, who is subcontracted by a participating organisation to deliver a specific piece of work. Subcontractors will be allowed in line with UKRI terms and conditions for research grants.

Management Of Intellectual Property

In your application you will be expected to outline how outputs and intellectual property assets will be managed across the organisations within your core team and collaborators. This is to ensure that it is appropriate for this funding and ensures outputs can be used to support the wider aims of the levy.

International Researchers

UKRI’s international project co-lead policy applies to this funding opportunity. If you are a researcher based outside of the UK, you can be named as ‘project co-lead (international)’ if you meet the eligibility criteria for international project co-leads.

The UK research organisation which hosts the project lead will be responsible for the due diligence and confirming that any international organisation and project co-lead meets the eligibility criteria. Further information on the eligibility criteria for international research organisations is provided in the UKRI project co-lead (international) policy and guidance.

Current co-funding arrangements via international lead agency agreements with individual research councils do not apply to this funding opportunity.

Equality, Diversity And Inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

• career breaks

• support for people with caring responsibilities

• flexible working

• alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Demand Management

Demand management is not currently being applied to this funding opportunity.

UKRI encourages organisations to support applicants in preparing well-planned, high-quality applications that are competitive for funding relative to the funding opportunity.

See AHRC funding guide for further information on submission rules.

Context

In April 2023, the Department for Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS) published a white paper setting out the government’s plans for modernising regulation of the gambling sector. One of the key proposals in the white paper is the introduction of a statutory levy on gambling operators.

Following a public consultation, which ran from 17 October 2023 to 14 December 2023, and an analysis of the responses to the consultation, the government has introduced a statutory levy charged to all licenced gambling activity. This is at varying levels depending on the sector and nature of the gambling activity to ensure impacts are proportionate.

The statutory levy was introduced via secondary legislation and commenced in April 2025 with funding flowing later that year. The levy will be collected and administered by the Gambling Commission under the strategic direction of the government, replacing the current system of voluntary industry contributions.

Levy funding will be directed in specific proportions for the purposes of research, prevention, and treatment. Each stream of the levy system will also have a central commissioner. The streams are:

• research (20% of funding to UKRI and the Gambling Commission for the establishment of a bespoke research programme)

• prevention (30% of funding to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to create a co-ordinated GB-wide approach to prevention)

• treatment (50% of funding to the NHS in England, Scotland, and Wales to commission treatment and support services)

Within the stream of funding allocated to UKRI for the new Research Programme on Gambling (RPG), UKRI have commissioned a multi-disciplinary Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre.

This will coordinate a cohort of GHR-UK Innovation Partnerships that have been funded to fill gaps in the existing evidence base and assist us in developing a research agenda following the introduction of the levy.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.

This funding opportunity aims to deliver high-quality research projects and build capacity in the research ecosystem. We welcome applications addressing any question or challenge that deepens understanding or supports solutions for the prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms.

This funding opportunity is open to the research and innovation communities across all UKRI research councils, and interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approaches are encouraged.

We will take a managed portfolio approach to ensure a balance of research topics and geographic regions are represented across the programme.

Interdisciplinary And Multidisciplinary Approaches

We encourage research projects to bring together different disciplines to address a challenge or question in gambling harms research, either through an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach. Single discipline projects will also be considered.

Interdisciplinary research combines distinct components of two or more disciplines through the integration of separate disciplinary data, methods, tools, concepts or theories in order to address a complex issue, question or problem. Interdisciplinary projects will be co-created or co-designed with input from all disciplines involved and the disciplines genuinely integrated with each discipline gaining something significant by being part of the project.

Multidisciplinary research involves different disciplines working towards the same challenge. The work packages do not require integration and remain largely separate and independent of each other, with the outputs of each combining to address the research challenge.

Whether your project uses an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary or single discipline approach, you should clearly articulate throughout your application how the challenge can only be addressed through your chosen approach. You should include the appropriate measures for team management and project governance to ensure a successful outcome.

Strong interdisciplinary projects demonstrate active integration of concepts, methods and perspectives across all participating disciplines. Integration is intentional, supported by clear processes for communication and shared working. Teams work jointly rather than in parallel, managing differences in disciplinary languages or culture to ensure equitable involvement across all fields. Methodologies, tools and processes may need to be adapted in order to integrate the different disciplines.

Effective interdisciplinary projects are co-created from the outset, with all disciplines contributing to shaping the research question, project framing and design. Teams build shared understanding through early collaborative discussion, valuing and challenging each other’s expertise. The project is guided by collective goals rather than any single discipline, supported by governance and working practices that foster open dialogue and ongoing development.

Interdisciplinary research should deliver meaningful reciprocal benefits for all participating disciplines, enriching each field’s knowledge base through new insights, methods or perspectives.

Guidance for effective interdisciplinary research approaches was initially developed for the UKRI Cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme. Further guidance can be viewed in a webinar recording for the second round of the scheme, particularly from the 10:45 timestamp.

In multidisciplinary research approaches the disciplinary methods and processes remain largely unchanged but the outputs of each disciplinary workstream will come together to address the research challenge.

For both multi and interdisciplinary approaches the team should put in place the appropriate management and governance structures to ensure a successful outcome and outline these in their application. Research approaches should also consider the cross-disciplinary support and development for early career researchers through mentoring, skills exchanges and opportunities to engage with approaches across disciplines.

Research Ethics

You must ensure that the activities and research is carried out to a high ethical standard, particularly given the sensitivities of research on issues concerning public harm and health. Gambling and the themes and topics highlighted have the potential to be very sensitive and you are expected to have carefully considered all potential issues, integrity and conflicts of interest, safeguarding requirements, and best practice.

You must clearly state how any potential ethical, safeguarding, and health and safety issues have been considered and will be addressed, ensuring that all necessary ethical approval is in place and all risks are minimised before the award commences. This is particularly important in the context of any planned public engagement activity and the involvement of people with lived experience, both of which may require specific consideration.

We encourage applicants to make use of relevant resources on UKRI’s Good Research Resource Hub.

Duration

The duration of this award is three years.

Awards are expected to be offered in April 2027. Projects must start by 1 October 2027.

Funding Available

The FEC of your project can be up to £2 million.

UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.

What We Will Fund

Costs for project leads and UK project co-leads with standard eligibility can include:

• contributions to the salary of project lead and co-leads

• staff costs

• equipment

• travel and subsistence

• other directly incurred costs

• estates and indirect costs

Doctoral students are not eligible for this funding opportunity, and funds are not available for PhD studentships. Further details about eligible costings for organisations with standard eligibility can be found in the AHRC research funding guide.

For organisations with non-standard eligibility, UKRI will award funding to the UK lead organisation, who will be responsible for distributing funds. Justified costs will be funded at 100% FEC and should be included under exceptions.

Further guidance on costings for project co-leads from UK organisations with non-standard eligibility is provided in the ESRC Project co-leads from UK business, third sector or government organisations policy.

For international organisations, further information on eligible costs is provided in the UKRI project co-lead (international) policy and guidance.

The combined total costs claimed for by all organisations with non-standard eligibility (both overseas and from the UK) must not exceed 30% of the overall cost of the project, calculated at 100% FEC.

This limit only applies to costs associated with co-project leads and does not restrict your ability to extend further support to enable participation through, for example, funding travel costs for participants. However, these additional costs would be funded at the standard 80% FEC.

Supporting Skills And Talent

We expect you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment. You are also expected to comply with our statement of expectations for technology and skills specialists (PDF, 31KB).

You are encouraged to consider how you can use a range of technical and specialist expertise available at your research organisation to deliver the proposed work and to mitigate against risks presented by fixed term contracts.

Trusted Research And Innovation (Tr&I)

UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

How to apply

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions system.

The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

To Apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

• Confirm you are the project lead.

• Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password.

• Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

• Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

• Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

• Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must:

• provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)

• insert each new image on a new line

• use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include:

• sentences or paragraphs of text

• tables

• excessive quantities of images

A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

• how applicants use the Funding Service

• how research offices use the Funding Service

• how reviewers use the Funding Service

References

References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:

• references are easily identifiable by the assessors

• references are formatted as appropriate to your research

• persistent identifiers are used where possible

General Use Of Hyperlinks

Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Ai)

Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.

Deadline

UKRI must receive your application by 8 December 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

Processing Personal Data

UKRI will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

We will need to share the application (including any personal information that it contains) with the Department for Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS) so that they can participate in the assessment process.

For more information on how DCMS uses personal information, visit the DCMS personal information charter for further detail.

Sensitive Information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email operations@ahrc.ukri.org

Include in the subject line: [Gambling harms research grants; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include:

• individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)

• declaration of interest

• additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section

• conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection

• the application is an invited resubmission

For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

Institutional Matched Funding

There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations. Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged.

This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.

Publication Of Outcomes

UKRI will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What AHRC has funded.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Summary

Word limit: 550

In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

• opinion-formers

• policymakers

• the public

• the wider research community

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Project leads must be based at a UK research institution eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Teams may involve single or multiple institutions. The lead organisation will be responsible for submitting the grant application.

Researchers may submit one application to this funding opportunity as project lead but may be involved in other applications as a project co-lead.

This funding opportunity is open to research communities across all UKRI research councils. It is a UKRI funding opportunity, delivered by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

To lead the award, your organisation must have standard eligibility for UKRI funding, which include:

• UK higher education providers (HEPs)

• UKRI institutes

• independent research organisations approved by UKRI

• public sector research establishments or NHS bodies approved by UKRI

This funding opportunity is also open to the following organisations with non-standard eligibility to apply as a project co-lead, provided they can demonstrate the capacity to co-lead and manage a significant research and innovation project:

• international research organisations

• other educational establishments

• charities and third sector organisations

• government departments and non-governmental organisations

• social enterprises and UK registered businesses

Further guidance for including UK project co-leads from organisations with non-standard eligibility is provided in the ESRC Project co-leads from UK business, third sector or government organisations policy. These organisations will need to go through due diligence checks before being awarded funding. Further details can be found on how to apply to be an eligible organisation.

It is the responsibility of the lead research organisation to check eligibility of all collaborating organisations (UK and international) and the eligibility of individuals for their proposed roles. Applications submitted with ineligible applicants will be rejected by the UKRI office.

See AHRC’s funding guide for further information on institutional and individual contractual eligibility requirements for applicants.

These organisations can also contribute as project partners if they are not a project co-lead. For more information see the Collaborators section.

Applications must be team based and must bring together diverse people, expertise, experiences, places and wider stakeholders. This includes people with lived and learned experience from gambling and gambling related harms.

By lived experience, we mean people with direct experience of gambling related harms.

Partnerships with non-academic higher education institutions and people across the third sector, community groups, industry, the public sector, people with lived experience and the public are important. These kinds of collaborations can strengthen the diversity, innovation and potential for impact from research activities.

By ‘industry’ we mean any enterprise that places goods or services on a market and whose commercial activities constitute more than 20% of its annual operations. This definition applies across all sectors and is not limited to organisations within the gambling industry. However, there are sensitivities with respect to partnerships with businesses, the gambling industry or otherwise, meaning additional care should be taken to manage risks and potential conflicts of interest.

Any engagement with industry partners, especially those from the gambling sector, must be demonstrably independent, evidence-based and research-led. Engagement must align with the programme’s public interest objectives to further understanding of gambling-related harms and should be discussed with UKRI prior to submission of an application via the UKRI RPG inbox: RPGinfo@ahrc.ukri.org

All applications will be subject to robust scrutiny through our expert review and governance processes. Particular attention will be paid to the independence and integrity of the research, the source and independence of the findings and the potential for real-world impact in understanding gambling behaviour and reducing gambling harms.

We wish to clarify that, as well as not being permitted to host awards, under the Research Programme on Gambling, UKRI does not permit funding to be provided to Gambling Commission licence holders who are subject to the levy.

Co-funding from Gambling Commission license holder is not permitted. Furthermore, we would not expect individual researchers to concurrently hold funding from licence holders subject to the levy while receiving funding from the Research Programme on Gambling.

We do not permit engagement with industries whose core business can be associated with harm to public health or societal wellbeing, in line with our ethical standards and harms-based exclusion principles. This includes the gambling industry.

Exceptions may be made for time-limited, purpose-specific interactions deemed essential to achieving legitimate and high-quality research objectives (for example, access to proprietary datasets or materials), provided that:

• there is no direct funding or co-authorship from the excluded entity

• the interaction is subject to robust ethical review and declared transparently

• appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent undue influence, reputational risk or conflicts of interest

• the public benefit of the research demonstrably outweighs the risks of engagement

Such exceptions must be approved in advance through our due diligence and governance mechanisms. You should consider our policies and guidance on Preventing harm in research when preparing applications to this funding opportunity.

An indication of required datasets, sources or both, must be included in the application. Where access to data has been established or agreed in principle, this must be confirmed via letters of support from relevant data controllers or data services. Any relevant data gaps or needs should be highlighted, and plans for addressing them outlined.

You should declare in the declaration of interest section of your application that you are compliant with these requirements for the duration of the programme.

Collaborations can take different forms including project partners or collaborating organisations. You must demonstrate how the collaborations within your team are equitable, have contributed to the development of your application including its conceptualisation, are not compromised by non-compliance with our conflict of interest policy, and will help the centre achieve its aims.

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