Concordia University has become the first Canadian educational institution to receive a research grant for on-going studies regarding gambling. Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) has awarded Professor Sylvia Kairouz with the gambling research chair and $947,738 for the department to conduct studies. This is a first-of-its-kind grant, as never before has a chair been awarded to support gambling research in Quebec.
Kairouz has plenty of productive plans for the grant money. Her studies will research the risks that come along with gambling as well as determining preventative and treatment measures. She believes that the grant will give her research team the ability to obtain a comprehensive understanding of gambling behaviour.
“The chair position attests to the importance of understanding the impact of gambling on society,” says Graham Carr, Concordia’s Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies.
Experienced in gambling research, Kairouz published a study in 2009: Portrait of gambling in Quebec: Prevalence, incidence and trajectories over four years. It set out to study the link between problem gambling and substance abuse. In 2012, she published a study with similar data, proving that there is a link between substance abuse and online gaming.
