Projects sit within UKRI’s Research Programme on Gambling and the GHR-UK Evidence Centre, backed by the statutory levy.
Ygam has been named as a partner on four projects funded through the UKRI Research Programme on Gambling, supported by the statutory levy. The charity will work with academic teams including the University of Birmingham, Bournemouth University, the University of Plymouth, Lancaster University, and Liverpool John Moores University.
The four projects sit within the Gambling Harms Research UK (GHR-UK) Evidence Centre, which coordinates 19 one-year Innovation Partnerships under the programme. UKRI has been appointed by the UK Government to oversee research commissioned through the new statutory Gambling Levy. Under the levy, 20% of annual funding will be allocated to research, equating to £22.1 million in 2025/26.
Emily Tofield, Chief Executive of Ygam, said: “We are pleased to be working in partnership with leading university partners, contributing our expertise in a key strategic area of our work. A defining strength of our approach is that it is grounded in robust insight and research, underpinning everything we do. This enables us to understand how and why harms emerge and translate that into practical, preventative education that is credible and scalable. We look forward to achieving these outcomes together and informing effective measures to prevent harms among children and young people.”
Ygam said its advisory panels — including young people, individuals with lived experience, community and faith leaders, gaming and esports representatives, and student ambassadors — will help shape the research to reflect “real-world experience and diverse community perspectives.”
The four partnerships are: INTEGRATE (University of Birmingham, Ygam, Al-Hurraya and Community Connexions), focused on intersectional gambling harm and interventions for children, young people and emerging adults; “From Evidence to Action: Safeguarding Neurodivergent Young People in Gamified Digital Environments” (Bournemouth University, Ygam, Work’n’Diversity CIC), focused on gambling-like risks in gamified digital environments; GRASP (University of Plymouth-led partnership including NatCen, NHS and third-sector organisations, and Ygam), mapping support pathways and gaps in prevention and recovery; and GRACE-Net (Lancaster University and Liverpool John Moores University with local authorities, NHS partners, third-sector organisations and Ygam), testing collaborative approaches in the North West of England and sharing learning more widely.
