The Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research aims to build capacity in interdisciplinary gambling harms research. We have strong links with lived experience and prevention/treatment experts and our Research Innovation Fund provides grants for innovative research in the UK and internationally.

Our ambition is to help prevent and reduce gambling harms by:

• Raising awareness of gambling harms among individuals, communities and organisations
• Strengthening consumer protection against gambling harms in physical and online environments
• Enhancing support and treatment in ways that reflect the complex and interconnected nature of gambling harms.

The Hub is funded by a £4 million grant from the national charity GambleAware for the period 2022-2027. This is part of GambleAware’s 2021-2026 Organisational Strategy, which is funded by voluntary donations from the gambling industry. GambleAware is regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and the Scottish Charity Regulator.

The Hub is overseen by a Governance Board made up exclusively of senior University of Bristol academics and chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise. Governance procedures and due diligence provide safeguards to ensure the Hub’s independence. Neither GambleAware nor the gambling industry have any influence over the activities of the Hub. GambleAware’s Director of Research, Information and Knowledge is a member of the Hub’s External Advisory Board, which meets annually and has no decision-making powers.  

The Hub benefits from active involvement of researchers from all faculties of the University of Bristol, bringing new disciplines into gambling research such as complexity science, criminology and computer-human interactions. 

The Hub champions novel interdisciplinary methodologies for gambling research, through its integration with:

• Bristol Population Health Science Institute - population and public health research spanning discovery-based genomics through life course studies to clinical trials and healthcare evaluation
• Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research - expertise in interdisciplinarity; mental health; translating research into practice
• Jean Golding Institute - the central hub for data science and data-intensive research
• Bristol Digital Futures Institute - understanding how technologies and people are shaping the future together - or "sociotechnical futures"
• Brigstow Institute - an open space for authentic co-production
• Bristol Poverty Institute - dedicated to understanding poverty and its intersection with other social harms
• Personal Finance Research Centre - an interdisciplinary research centre exploring the financial issues that affect individuals and households
• ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures - a £10m flagship investment from the ESRC to establish an international centre of excellence for sociodigital futures research and collaboration

The Hub is set up to translate research into policy, through collaboration with PolicyBristol which connects researchers with relevant policymakers and promotes research with bespoke and influential policy briefings.