Gambling harms research and innovation partnerships (Grant)

This funding opportunity is led by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It is open to interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral teams with expertise in any disciplines supported by UKRI.

Teams will be expected to address social, economic and environmental challenges facing communities within the geographical area of focus. They must therefore demonstrate significant expertise across the disciplines relevant to the challenges identified.

Project leads must be based at an institution eligible for UKRI funding. Teams may involve multiple institutions. The lead organisation will be responsible for submitting the grant application.

To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. Check if your organisation is eligible.

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

You cannot apply to both the Gambling Harms Research and Innovation Partnerships (GHRIP) and Gambling Harms Research Coordination Centre (GHRCC) funding opportunities. This will be checked at application processing stage.

Project co-leads from government, local government, third sector and non-profit organisations and industry are eligible and encouraged for this funding opportunity.

You must determine the most appropriate balance of public, third and private sector stakeholders for the partnership. Teams may bring together different forms of expertise (policy, knowledge broker, corporate, community and participatory research) and research capability (design, synthesis and analysis).

Each GHRIP will identify the most appropriate role and level of involvement for each participating organisation. This could be as project co-lead, research officer, support staff, project partner or another appropriate role.

Who is eligible to apply

This is a UKRI funding opportunity led by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It is open to the research and innovation communities of all UKRI research councils and Innovate UK.

Standard UKRI eligibility requirements will apply. To host the award your organisation must be:

• a UK academic higher education institution (HEI)

• an independent research organisation (IRO) recognised by UKRI

• a UK registered business that can demonstrate the capacity to lead and manage a significant research and innovation project

Third sector institutions can act as partners and collaborating organisations.

To ensure that the project is suitably interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, the core team leading the Centre should include representatives from across UKRI’s research and innovation communities.

In line with UKRI’s Technicians Commitment, named project staff and investigators may include technicians contributing to the intellectual leadership and management of a project.

Who is not eligible to apply

The following organisations are not eligible to host the award:

• government and third sector organisations,

• Gambling Commission operating license holders subject to the levy.

See our funding guide for further information on institutional and individual contractual eligibility requirements for investigators.

Further eligibility requirements

Applications must be consortia based and must bring together diverse people, institutions, 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-HEI organisations and people across the third sector, community groups, the public sector, and industry are essential.

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.

While the gambling industry will inevitably have a role within the broader ecosystem addressing gambling harms, we recognise the sensitivities involved. Any engagement with industry partners, including those from the gambling sector, must be demonstrably evidence-based, research-led, and aligned with the programme’s public interest objectives.

All proposals will be subject to robust scrutiny through our peer review and governance processes, with particular attention paid to the integrity of the research, the independence of the findings, and the potential for real-world impact in preventing, treating, or reducing gambling harms.

Partnerships can take different forms including project partners or collaborating organisations. You must demonstrate how the partnerships within your consortium are equitable, have contributed to the development of your application including its conceptualisation, and will help the centre achieve its aims.

International project co-leads and project co-leads from UK business, civil society, community, or government bodies are eligible and their eligible costs will be funded at 100% full economic cost (FEC). However, their combined costs together with the amount requested for the flexible funding budget must not exceed 30% of the overall cost of the project.

This limit only applies to costs associated with co-project leads and the flexible funding budget 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.

Early and mid-career researchers

We recognise that it is likely the successful application will be led by experienced researchers who are internationally recognised, with proven ability to deliver a large-scale project successfully and lead an investment of this nature. However, you should carefully consider the balance of your proposed teams to ensure there is a mix of people with varied expertise and at different career stages.

Your core team must include early career researchers and have clear plans for their development.

International researchers

As UKRI is a lead funder for this funding opportunity, international researchers can apply as ‘project co-lead (international)’. You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners.

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.

Scope

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 to 14 December 2023, and an analysis of the responses to the consultation, the government will introduce a statutory levy charged to all licenced gambling activity, 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 UK Research and Innovation (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 (OHID) 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 are commissioning a multi-disciplinary hub, called the Gambling Harms Research Coordination Centre (GHRCC).

This will coordinate a series of spokes, called the Gambling Harms Research and Innovation Partnerships (GHRIP), intended to fill gaps in the existing evidence base, and assist UKRI 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.

Gambling harms research and innovation partnership programme

The programme will fund a network of Gambling Harms Research and Innovation Partnerships (GHRIPs) to address critical gaps in the evidence base and support the development of innovative, stakeholder-informed responses to gambling-related harms.

These partnerships will act as thematic spokes within a wider research ecosystem, working collaboratively with a central coordination hub to generate actionable insights, build research capacity, and inform policy and practice across the UK.

GHRIPs will connect relevant stakeholders and research partners, providing research, evidence, data and expertise to tackle gambling harms in their various forms.

Applications should focus on creating a single GHRIP in a defined thematic area, from the list below:

• intersectionality

• structural drivers

• direct/lived experience

• digital gambling ecosystems

• preventive, protective and recovery factors

• co-occurring issues

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

Each GHRIP will develop and implement a programme of activity and devolved funding that will generate a rich portfolio of research and innovation that directly engages with the priorities of the UKRI Research Programme on Gambling (RPG).

Interactions between the GHRIP network, relevant stakeholders, and wider initiatives will be coordinated and led by a Gambling Harms Research Coordination Centre (GHRCC) (to be awarded via a separate application process).

In support of the aims of the UKRI Research Programme on Gambling (RPG), GHRIPs will deliver the following programme objectives:

• connecting and catalysing: strengthening partnerships and collaborations between researchers, policymakers, third sector and other relevant stakeholders, attracting resource and capability for research and innovation, knowledge exchange, and skills to address gambling harms

• solutions focused: working with stakeholders to implement evidence-informed, actionable solutions that reflect the challenges faced in tackling gambling harms and associated issues

• devolved activity: managing a flexible funding pot to identify gaps, strengthen the research base and increase diversity within the field of gambling harms research

Phases

To support the delivery of these objectives and ensure the strongest applications are funded, the GHRIPs will be commissioned through a two-phased competitive process.

The phase one funding opportunity offers initial seed-corn funding so that applicants may dedicate time to developing partnerships. The funding is intended to resource the development of high-quality proposals to the phase two funding opportunity, by ensuring that partnership building is resourced, reflecting the essential role of partners in the public, third and private sectors.

During phase two, each successful GHRIP will deliver a co-designed programme of activity that reflects the funding opportunity aims and objectives. For a detailed overview, see ‘phase one activity’ and ‘phase two activity’ below.

Phase one activity

The purpose of phase one is to provide resource and support capacity across stakeholders to undertake partnership development and landscape evidence analysis required to design the phase two work programme.

You will be expected to deliver the following activities and outputs during phase one:

• building, strengthening or diversifying partnerships between research organisations or research teams and relevant stakeholders

• dialogue and co-creation with stakeholders and lived experience participants to further understand needs and surface opportunities for collaboration

• design and deliver workshops

• mapping of relevant data

• landscape and evidence analysis to build the evidence base for the phase two application

• embed co-creation practices and evaluation mechanisms into public and community engagement activities to ensure they are inclusive, impactful, and responsive to stakeholder needs.

• establish an appropriate model for phase two

Phase two activity

The purpose of phase two is to select the strongest partnerships with potential to deliver insights and solutions tailored to the most pressing issues caused by gambling harm.

Phase two GHRIP awards will be applying for up to £5 million (100% FEC) per project, with funding available for a duration of up to four years. Projects will be expected to commence in October 2026, following a separate competitive assessment process.

Successful phase two applicants will deliver an iterative programme of activity to maintain stakeholder relationships and partnerships, and commission new activity to inform actionable solutions.

Each partnership will apply for resource to staff the GHRIP, an initial work programme and a flexible fund through the second phase application process. Each GHRIP will manage its flexible fund independently to fund projects and programmes of activity.

Flexible funds are expected to constitute at least 40% of the overall phase two award and can be costed as ‘Exceptions’ at 100% FEC. The flexible fund must be devoted to planning, delivering, and managing a multidisciplinary programme of devolved awards and activities.

Note: The 40% flexible funding requirement for GHRIPs is distinct from the 20% flexible funding allocation required for the GHRCC. Each reflects the differing roles and responsibilities of the Spokes and the Coordination Centre.

There will be a wide variety of projects given the range of types and scale of challenges they could be supporting. Every project should be working to common and clearly identified goals aligned with the priority areas of focus set out as follows. Project development and delivery must be underpinned by stakeholder participation.

Examples of potential activities and outputs for delivery during phase two are:

• landscape and evidence analysis including secondary data analysis

• designing and evaluating evidence informed interventions

• developing relevant data resources

• reports, policy briefings and resources (for example, think-kits and toolkits)

• workshops and training programmes

• community engagement to develop and deliver projects, including establishing local ‘citizen science’ and other community-led initiatives

• building evidence bases to support research and policy development, and applications for focused funding, including commissioning new activity to address gaps in the evidence base

Applicants to phase two will be required to build in sufficient capacity to undertake and engage with future monitoring and evaluation.

Each GHRIP must also build-in the ability to scale its capacity to respond to future opportunities to manage additional funds, for example, ringfenced pots or fellowships.

Applicants to phase two will be expected to include a logic model that clearly articulates the intended outcomes of their programme and how these will be achieved.

The Gambling Harms Research Coordination Centre (GHRCC) will provide support to GHRIP proposal development during phase one. Applicants to phase one should therefore demonstrate a willingness to engage with the GHRCC and build capacity into the grant application appropriately.

Phase timelines

Phase one will run for nine months, from February through to October 2026.

Phase one will start at the same time as the GHRCC and will work closely with the Centre for their phase two applications.

UKRI funded rapid evidence reviews will be made publicly available early 2026

On 31 July 2026, GHRIPs will submit their proposals to become phase two GHRIP awards.

Successful GHRIPs will start phase two in October 2026 and run for up to four years.

Phase two stage-gate review

A formal stage-gate will be built into phase two awards to align with the financial cycle of the statutory levy system. This review will assess progress against key milestones and strategic objectives. Continued funding beyond this point will be subject to satisfactory delivery, governance, and alignment with the evolving national strategy on gambling harms.

Thematic focus

Each GHRIP will bring together stakeholders from a range of sectors and disciplines to address a thematic area. Research themes explored by the RPG will look to address these initial areas of focus.  While these areas have been identified by UKRI, we are open to applications across a broader range of topics.

Intersectionality

How overlapping identities, for example, race, gender and disability, shape gambling experiences and harms. This can also include experiences and drivers of gambling related harms and help-seeking in marginalised communities, for example, those who may face higher risks of gambling harm but are under-represented in research and support services.

We are committed to ensuring that our programming on gambling related harm actively considers intersectionality and the full range of protected characteristics, recognising that experiences of harm are shaped by overlapping social, economic, and cultural factors, and that effective responses must be inclusive, equitable, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities.

Structural drivers

The role of the systemic, environmental, and institutional factors that create conditions for harmful gambling behaviours including culture, demography, housing, urban or rural development, and digital inequality in gambling behaviour, risk, or experience of gambling harms or both.

Direct or lived experience

Individual risk factors, for example, mental health conditions, neurodivergence, trauma, financial precarity, housing insecurity, and community-led research into gambling.

Digital gambling ecosystems

The impact of personalisation and targeted advertising, new and changing marketing practices, access to multiple online gambling accounts, loot boxes, cryptocurrency-based esports, and algorithmic design on users, including vulnerable users such as children and adolescents.

Preventive, protective, and recovery factors

Most research focuses on harm, not resilience, recovery, or preventative practices by a range of actors, whether at the local community level, to healthcare and educational environments, to gambling firms and online platforms.

Co-occurring issues

These include mental health, substance use, and financial hardship, as well as potential integrated treatment models. You should also consider the impact of financial harms.

Outcomes

Together, the GHRIPs and the GHRCC will support the following outcomes.

Expected outcomes include:

• creating stronger and more diverse partnerships by investing in the capability and capacity required for multi-partner collaboration, bringing the right stakeholders together at the right time

• enhancing understanding of thematic priorities by surfacing evidence gaps, stakeholder needs and opportunities for innovation through collaborative scoping and analysis

• increasing readiness for delivery by developing credible, co-designed models for phase two activity that reflect the scale, ambition and complexity of the challenge

• strengthening capacity for collaborative research by embedding inclusive, interdisciplinary approaches and supporting the involvement of underrepresented voices and sectors

• supporting collaboration across the GHRIP network by fostering shared learning, alignment of approaches and opportunities for joint activity, coordinated through the GHRCC

• embedding meaningful public and community engagement by involving people with lived experience and wider publics in shaping research priorities and approaches

• enhancing the evidence base to inform a future national strategy on the reduction of gambling harms

GHRIPs will undertake an appropriate mix of evidence synthesis and translation, knowledge exchange, public and community engagement, skills and capabilities development, data analysis and, where appropriate, novel primary research.

Each GHRIP will design its own work programme and devise an appropriate approach and methods.

GHRIPs should include the capability for responding to urgent challenges including conducting ‘rapid response’ type work.

Engagement with the UK Gambling Harms Research Coordination Centre

The UK Gambling Harms Research Coordination Centre is being commissioned through a separate funding opportunity. It will act as an intermediary, learning about the context and challenges faced in each partnership’s area and:

• connecting to broader research and innovation initiatives that can support the GHRIPs in addressing those challenges

• supporting the dissemination and translation of learning and evidence across the network of GHRIPs

• communicating outcomes to policymakers and practitioners beyond the GHRIPs stakeholder communities, at local, regional and national levels

• assisting in coordinating devolved funding and related activities to ensure cross-spoke collaboration and avoid duplication

During phase one, the GHRCC will actively support GHRIP applicants in developing their proposals, facilitating shared learning, thematic alignment, and early-stage coordination across the network.

The GHRCC will play a crucial role in connecting GHRIPs to the research, learning, expertise and evidence needed to inform effective responses to tackling gambling harms.

With the support of the GHRCC, GHRIPs will be expected to engage with a range of organisations and investments to support their work programme to source the data, insights and expertise they require.

The GHRCC will be a large-scale investment that will also deliver its own research packages, flexible funding and studentships.

See the full strategic coordination hub opportunity.

Rapid evidence reviews

UKRI will be commissioning a suite of rapid evidence reviews to help identify evidence gaps within the research and innovation ecosystem.

These will be publicly available in early 2026, and the successful awards will be expected to incorporate the outputs of these reviews into their workplan.

Application requirements

At phase one, you are required to demonstrate a clear pathway to expanding and diversifying partnerships. Teams must also demonstrate potential to make a significant contribution to developing insight in the selected thematic areas.

You must set out an approach to each of the following.

Partnership building, stakeholder and community engagement

You must demonstrate how existing relationships and networks will be developed and expanded during the phase 1 award. You should specify the types of activity they plan to undertake and show how the proposed new activity will add value to the existing partnership. You should include an approach to involving partners and stakeholders in proposal development throughout phase one.

You are expected to build on existing partnerships by engaging beyond usual stakeholders, ensuring equitable partnerships and supporting interdisciplinary approaches to deliver policy and practice impact. This may require new groupings of researchers and stakeholders, drawing on strong, existing leadership across related areas.

Capacity for people exchange across the partnership should be built into the GHRIP model. Consideration should be given to embedding stakeholders that are often excluded from the research and innovation ecosystem.

The balance of stakeholder expertise in the partnership, including new and existing relationships, should be clearly aligned to a thematic area. GHRIPs are not required to have the full range of partners in place for the phase one application. There is flexibility to expand partnerships as challenges are further defined during the phase one award.

At phase two, you will be required to demonstrate a level of in-kind support appropriate to the nature and scale of the work.

Leadership and interdisciplinary expertise

Applications must identify a project lead who will act as director. Each proposal must also identify a co-director from an appropriate non-academic partner (government, public sector, or third sector). There can be more than one co-director.

Applications must identify a leadership team to lead on application development during phase one, with clearly defined roles.

A core team must be in place at the time of application with flexibility to expand this team as required during phase one.

The mix of disciplinary expertise within the team will reflect the expertise required to address the thematic area of focus identified in the proposal. It is expected that multi- and interdisciplinary expertise will be required. This may be drawn from academic, practitioner, or policy partners.

In addition to relevant domain expertise, the leadership team will demonstrate significant expertise in knowledge exchange and knowledge mobilisation. They will be able to demonstrate understanding of existing policy challenges and how the research relevant to these challenges can be utilised.

The project lead must contribute a significant proportion of their time to the overall leadership and coordination of the grant.

Responsible innovation

Responsible innovation is an integral part of our vision and we expect you to consider the benefits, but also the potential negative impacts from your activities.

Find out more about responsible innovation.

Duration

UKRI will fund up to 20 phase one awards for nine months.

Projects must start by 1 February 2026

Phase two GHRIP awards will be expected to start in October 2026

Funding available

The full economic cost of your phase one project can be up to £100,000. UKRI will fund 80% of the full economic cost. UKRI will fund up to 20 phase one awards for nine months.

All applicants successful at phase one will be invited to submit an application for phase two.

Phase two applications will be subject to a separate assessment process. We anticipate awarding a minimum of six grants of a value of £5 million at 100% full economic cost per award, with a duration of 48 months.

Awards at phase one and phase two will be made at 80% full economic cost, and the research organisation must agree to find the balance of full economic cost from other resources.

You will be expected to bid for a level of funding that is commensurate to the maturity of the existing partnership and degree to which shared priorities are established.

It is expected that partnerships at an earlier stage of development will require a higher level of resource to develop shared agendas and identify opportunities for wider collaboration and extending their reach to a diverse set of stakeholders.

Supporting skills and talent

UKRI supports over 25k FTE of R&I staff directly on grants, many more if indirect costs, facility charges and strategic funding streams are included. Those skilled people and teams design our studies, deliver the R&I work and disseminate the outputs. They are the R&I system; and mission critical to delivering the outcomes we invest in.

Our expectations for people and teams are collated on the supporting skills and talent section of the good research resource hub. In this funding opportunity we are piloting a new approach to embedding consideration of people and teams in our assessment. You can find the assessment criteria for integrating support for people and teams in your application in the people and teams assessment guidance.

You should evidence a strong commitment to supporting the development of researchers at all stages of their career. We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment. 

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.

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

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Panel

We will invite experts to assess the quality of your application and rank it alongside other applications after which the panel will make a funding recommendation.

UKRI will make the final funding decision.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in expert review

Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard.

For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.

Sharing data with co-funders

We will need to share the application (including any personal information that it contains) with 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.

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Assessment areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

• Vision

• Approach

• Applicant and team capability to deliver

• Resource and cost justification

• Ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Webinar for potential applicants

We will hold a webinar on 24 July 2025. This will provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions.

Register for the webinar via Zoom.

To apply on the UKRI Funding Service click 

https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP1027/apply/1059/

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) 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.

1. Confirm you are the project lead.

2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email support@funding-service.ukri.orgPlease allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.

3. 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.

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

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

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

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 may 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

AHRC must receive your application by 16 September 2025 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 the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

Personal data

Processing personal data

AHRC, as part of 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.

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: [the funding opportunity title; 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.

Publication of outcomes

AHRC, as part of 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

Guidance for writing a summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

• context

• the challenge the project addresses

• aims and objectives

• potential applications and benefits

Core team

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

• project lead (PL)

• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)

• project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))

• specialist

• grant manager

• professional enabling staff

• research and innovation associate

• technician

Only list one individual as project lead

UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

Application questions

Vision

Word limit: 1,000

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your proposed work:

• is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)

• has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area

• is timely given current trends, context, and needs

• impacts world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment

If your opportunity has indirect place-based outcomes:

• identifies the potential local, regional and or national impacts, both direct and indirect, and who the beneficiaries might be

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Approach

Word limit: 1,500

How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:

• is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives

• is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed

• uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable)

• summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable)

• will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts

• describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work

If your opportunity has indirect place-based outcomes:

• has been designed so that it will generate local, regional and or national impacts

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,650

Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:

• the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work

• the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work

• the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others

• contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.

Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:

• contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge

• the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships

• contributions to the wider research and innovation community

• contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit

Additions

Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).

Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

References may be included within this section.

The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 500

What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

• the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations

• how you will manage these considerations

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Research involving human participation

Word limit: 700

Will the project involve the use of human subjects or their personal information?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are proposing research that requires the involvement of human subjects, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.

Justify the number and the diversity of the participants involved, as well as any procedures.

Provide details of any areas of substantial or moderate severity of impact.

If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Resources and cost justification

Word limit: 1,500

What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:

• project staff

• significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)

• any equipment that will cost more than £25,000

• any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities

• all facilities and infrastructure costs

• all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’

You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project. For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders.

Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:

• are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified

• represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes

• maximise potential outcomes and impacts

Place

Word limit: 700

What are the place related challenges or opportunities for your application?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your proposed work:

• will deliver local and or regional impacts, both direct and indirect, and who the beneficiaries might be

• enhances the UK’s research and innovation capabilities through local and or regional activity

• will engage local and or regional stakeholders in meaningful partnership

• will consider connections with the research strategies of devolved nations

Project partners

Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Add the following project partner details:

• the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)

• the project partner contact name and email address

• the type of contribution (direct or indirect) and its monetary value

If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Project partners: letters (or emails) of support

Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the project partners section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’. Each letter or email you provide should:

• confirm the partner’s commitment to the project

• clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them

• describe any additional value that they bring to the project

• have a page limit of 2 sides A4 per partner

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the project partners’ section.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Background

• Government White Paper following review of the Gambling Act 2005 (April 2023)

• Public consultation on structure, distribution and governance of statutory levy on gambling operators (October 2023)

• Public Health England review on Gambling related harms (January 2023)

• Gambling Commission Evidence Gaps and Priorities 2023 to 2026

• Government response to consultation on structure, distribution and governance of statutory levy on gambling operators (November 2024)

Research and innovation impact

Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Webinar for potential applicants

We will hold a webinar on 24 July 2025. This will provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions.

Register for the webinar via Zoom.

Research disruption due to COVID-19

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

• breaks and delays

• disruptive working patterns and conditions

• the loss of ongoing work

• role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.

Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.

Related content

• Corporate policies and standards

• AHRC policies and standards

Related opportunities

• UKRI Gambling Harms Research Coordination Centre (GHRCC)

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your application please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact operations@ahrc.ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm

• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.