Standards

Research governance framework 

The Gambling Commission's Research Governance Framework.

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Published
30 April 2026

Last updated
30 April 2026 - Changes

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Contents

• Research governance framework 

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• Introduction
• • Research at the Gambling Commission
  • The Research Governance Framework
  • Developing and updating the research governance framework
• Ethical gambling research
• • Introduction to ethical gambling research
  • Core research principles and guidelines for ethical gambling research
  • Research involving AI
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Research misconduct
• Ethical approval for gambling research with human participants
• • Which projects require ethical approval
  • General considerations for ethical approval in gambling research
  • The ethical approval process
• The peer review process
• Roles and responsibilities
• Other external research involvement
• Research data governance
• • General principles of research data governance and research data safeguarding
  • What documents are required?
  • Data sharing
• Dissemination of research
• Monitoring, review and data corrections
• Appendices
• • Appendix 1: Ethics Checklist for projects requiring full Ethical Approval
  • Appendix 2: Data management plan checklist checklist
  • Appendix 3: Peer review checklist
  • Appendix 4: Research misconduct

2.4 - Conflicts of interest

Competing interests can inappropriately impact research design, delivery and outputs. Therefore, such conflicts of interest must be identified, declared, and addressed to avoid poor practice in research or potential misconduct. Conflicts of interest can occur within gambling research especially since gambling research often relies on data sharing or collaboration between stakeholders with different agendas or commercial interests such as other regulators, industry, third sector or other public sector bodies.

We, in carrying out or commissioning gambling research, must identify any competing interests and decide whether it is of a type and severity that risks compromising the validity or integrity of the research, in which case we should not proceed with the research, or whether it can be adequately addressed through declarations and/or safeguards relating to the conduct and reporting of the research. Our Managing Conflicts of Interest Policy sets out in detail:

1. types of interests
2. when a conflict of interest may arise
3. how conflicts will be managed
4. which conflicts are incompatible with roles at the Gambling Commission (‘the Commission’)
5. the obligations of individuals in declaring and managing conflicts.

The Policy applies to the following groups of people, although the requirements and processes may be different for each:

1. Commissioners
2. independent members of Commission committees
3. Commission employees
4. independent contractors working with the Commission
5. members of Commission Expert Groups.

Competing interests should be disclosed at the project plan and ethical approval stage. Research Managers and the research team need to state any identified conflicts of interest (such as arising from personal or organisational considerations, funding, operator or other stakeholder influence, and so on) in the project plan. More guidance on potential conflicts of interests can be found in the UKRI Conflicts of interests (opens in new tab).

If the research project involves an external research provider or organisation, they must notify the Research Manager of any potential conflicts of interest. More guidance on conflicts of interest and procurement can be found in the GOV.UK Conflicts of Interest guidance (opens in new tab).

Once declared, the Research Manager, a representative from the Senior Management Team and the Research Governance Manager can assess conflicts of interest for impact on outcomes. If new conflicts arise during the study, they should be disclosed as soon as researchers become aware of them.

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Research misconduct

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Last updated: 30 April 2026

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