Alberta Gambling Institute Research Grant


Descriptions

Opportunity type:

Grant

Sponsor:

Alberta Gambling Research Institute

Award amount and duration:

up to $160,000 for up to 3 years

Currency:

CAD

Eligibility

Type:
Faculty

An important aspect of the Institute’s mandate is to promote collaborative and capacity-building research activity within the participant universities. Therefore, the applicant must be one of the principal investigators and have faculty status at one of the three universities (Alberta, Calgary or Lethbridge). This individual is responsible for overseeing the research activity, ensuring that expenditures comply with the approved budget, and meeting the annual and completion reporting requirements. Research collaborators may come from other universities, be external experts or have faculty status at another post-secondary institution (with the proviso that confirmation is submitted indicating the length of their appointment extends beyond the research grant period). CVs of the principal and other investigators must accompany the application as well as an in-depth profile of any external collaborative research partners (e.g. consultants, treatment organization, etc.).

 

Summary

The Alberta Gambling Research Institute is a consortium of the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, and Lethbridge. Its mission is ‘to facilitate evidence-based broad research that informs gambling public policy and educates Albertans and the wider audience about the effects of gambling’.

Goals of AGRI:

  1. To encourage, foster, and solicit research to better understand the role and impacts of gambling on the individual and society
  2. To ensure research is collaborative and has stakeholder support
  3. To support the development of research capacities across broad research disciplines
  4. To contribute to making research accessible, useful and applied

 

Stakeholder Identified High Priority Research Areas

For the 2023/2024 proposal cycle, the following stakeholder identified priorities will receive particular consideration:

Public policy – Comparative and evaluative research on social responsibility programs with a view to determining best practice guidelines. How should responsible gambling be measured? How should revenue generation be balanced with effective social responsibility? Some examples of particular interest are: effects of advertising, sustainability of gambling under ideal regulatory conditions, and the role of recreational gambling and sports betting in Alberta.

Indigenous / First Nations gambling – A continuing priority identified by stakeholders is the need for further, including comparative, research into gambling behaviors and industry involvement of First Nations and other indigenous populations.

Longitudinal follow up studies – Basic understanding of the gambling behaviors and habits of various age cohorts was identified as being an integral building block for future research. Associated and follow-up research continues to be a high priority.

Internet / Remote gambling – The pervasiveness of this relatively recent format has accelerated it to the forefront of research demand. Some research has been completed, much is underway, but it will assuredly remain high on the gambling research agenda.

Provision and delivery of effective treatment programs – Although the evidence base for preventing and treating gambling disorders is growing, intervention research continues to be a priority. Stakeholders are interested in dissemination of research knowledge, translation of basic research findings into intervention, identification of best practices, development of easily accessible guidelines for clinicians/treatment providers, and provision of treatment in easily accessible modalities such as telephone, Internet and text. A specific stakeholder area of interest is to gain an understanding of the reason for the observed decline in numbers of treatment-seeking by problem gamblers as well as strategies for increasing treatment-seeking. Research on the basic personality, social, cognitive and neurological mechanisms of gambling and disordered gambling are also encouraged, in particular with ties to prevention and intervention.

Socio-economic / Economic – Over time, enormous focus has been put on developing and applying a model for identifying and assessing the fullest range possible of individual, family and societal impacts of gambling. Follow-up and further studies are needed to help determine: What is the appropriate level for the provincial government to make from gambling revenue? What percentage of revenue is from problem gamblers? How should revenue generation be balanced with effective social responsibility?

 

Proposals on these topics are encouraged but submissions are not restricted to only these topics. Applications for associated research that incorporates a gambling focus are eligible.

All research proposals are subject to expert peer review prior to approval. The Institute-funded initiatives to date are identified on the Institute's website – see: https://research.ucalgary.ca/alberta-gambling-research-institute/research/major-grants.

 

Overhead

Not applicable


Deadlines

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Date:
July 5, 2023 - 12:00 PM

Program application deadline

Date:
July 10, 2023 - 4:00 PM

Approvals

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

  • Principal Investigator
  • Department Head
  • Faculty ADR/Dean
  • Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.


Additional Information

For full information and guidelines, see link here

 

Submission Process:

1. Complete the application form as outlined in the AGRI Guidelines.

2. To initiate internal approvals, complete the Pre-Award/Application record in RMS (https://research.ucalgary.ca/conduct-research/additional-resources/resea...), attach your completed Application documents as outlined above, and submit for approvals from your department head and/or faculty Associate Dean (Research). *Important: when submitting in RMS, please ensure that you allow time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services review deadline of 12:00pm on Wednesday July 5, 2023

3. Once these approvals are obtained, RMS will automatically forward the Application record to Research Services for institutional review and approval.

4. Research Services will review, provide feedback (by email) if necessary, and will provide the institutional approval and RSO signature. All other signatures should already be on the application prior to submission to RSO***

5. Research Services will submit the approved application to AGRI on the applicants half before 4PM Mountain time on Monday July 10, 2023.


Contact Details


Keywords

Alberta Gambling Research Insitute
Public Policy
Addiction and treatment
Socio-economic research