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

1.3 - Developing and updating the research governance framework

We have developed the research governance framework following engagement with stakeholders including academics, industry, other public bodies, the third sector and lived experience representatives¹.

The research governance framework will be reviewed annually and may be updated to reflect policy updates, new initiatives or other changes to our approaches and procedures.

Standards for research such as the Code of Practice for Statistics and others that have been referenced in this framework will be updated by their respective owners (such as the Office for Statistics Regulation, UKRI, and so on). The links provided should signpost to the most up to date versions of these standards.

If you have any questions about this framework, please contact: research@gamblingcommission.gov.uk.

References

¹Workshops were conducted in February 2025 with a variety of stakeholders to gain feedback on our evidence gaps and proposed roadmap topics. As part of the workshops, we also discussed matters of research integrity and governance. A further workshop was held at the Gambling Commission Spring Conference in March 2025.

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The Research Governance Framework

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Last updated: 30 April 2026

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