Grants can only be awarded to academic staff and PhD students, with their supervisor’s permission, at Higher Education Institutions (HEI)/universities, however we welcome non-academic partners as co-investigators (Co-Is).
The aim of the Research Innovation Fund is to develop and support an international network of researchers across the world, therefore any researcher based at an HEI anywhere in the world can apply for the RIF.
The strategic awards will run for up to 12 months from August-July each year. Awards are expected to be for up to £50K. We expect to fund up to 8 of these strategic awards per year.
Deadline for applications will be 31st May 2024.
In your application, you must demonstrate how your proposed research meets all eight of the Research Innovation Fund’s criteria for funding:
Alignment with at least one of the Hub’s four Challenges: The four challenges are:
- Challenge 1 – Perceptions, Motivations, Decisions. What initiates harmful gambling?
- Challenge 2 – Narratives, Practice, Representation. What is the everyday practice and portrayal of gambling in social groups?
- Challenge 3 – Experience, Risk, Harm. What social inequalities exacerbate gambling harms?
- Challenge 4 – Innovation, Transition, Change. What socio-technical innovations can help combat gambling harms?
The Research Innovation Fund will also fund research into cross-cutting themes related to these four Challenges, such as disparities, inequality, vulnerability, resilience and social justice.
Strategic fit with the Hub’s aims to help prevent and reduce gambling harms at different levels of society (e.g., individual, family and social networks, community and societal): The Research Innovation Fund aims to support research that:
- Raises awareness of gambling harms among individuals, communities and organisations.
- Strengthens consumer protection against gambling harms in physical and online environments.
- Enhances support and treatment in ways that reflect the complex and interconnected nature of gambling harms.
- We will give additional weight to proposals addressing an issue or niche area where there has been limited work to date, and would benefit from additional activity.
Applicants should also demonstrate a good in-depth understanding of the issue including knowledge of others working in the field.
Value for Money: The staff and non-staff costs for the project are appropriate and the work represents good value for money in relation to the proposed outputs and outcomes.
Interdisciplinarity: The Research Innovation Fund supports interdisciplinary research which crosses boundaries and actively seeks to integrate and synthesise insights from one or more academic disciplines. The Research Innovation Fund aims to support researchers to work with scholars from other disciplines or under-represented disciplines e.g. Arts and Humanities.
Consideration of equality, diversity and inclusion: The Research Innovation Fund aims to facilitate and support a wide range of researchers and voices in order to promote equality, diversity and inclusion. The Hub particularly welcomes applications from Early Career Researchers, under-represented groups, and under-represented countries.
Engagement of end beneficiaries in the project (i.e., people who have lived experience of gambling-related harm, regulators, treatment providers or policymakers): The Hub is keen to fund research that shows the proactive engagement and involvement of people who are likely to benefit from the project. For example, if the work is aiming to benefit young adults, show how you are engaging young adults in the work. The aim of the Research Innovation Fund is to develop innovative and impactful research that clearly outlines how the research will benefit the public good.
Impact plan: The aim of the Research Innovation Fund is to deliver significant impact on the gambling research landscape, therefore applicants will need to outline what difference their research will make and how they plan to make that happen. The Hub uses UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s definition of impacts as research that has “an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia”. The impact of research can be instrumental e.g. it influences the development of policy, practice or services; or conceptual (e.g., it contributes to the understanding of policy issues or reframes debates).
Plan to leverage further funding: The Hub expects awardees to leverage further funding to continue their research after the Research Innovation Fund grant has ended so the application form should detail what future funding applications are proposed. Please include the specific funding sources that will be targeted and any track record of successful funding applications.