Conflicts of interest

A conflict of interest is when an individual's duties to the University conflict with their personal, financial, or other interests. It can also apply to anyone with a close personal connection to the individual (including, but not limited to, any children, in-laws, siblings, partner or spouse).

Examples include receiving payments, gifts, or hospitality.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not depend on whether the individual is actually influenced in their duties or decisions. It arises whenever an interest could reasonably be perceived as affecting, or having the capacity to affect, an individual’s ability to make impartial decisions on the University’s behalf.

If your project involves a conflict of interest, you'll need to:

• talk to your Department about the conflict of interest, and develop a plan for mitigating it
• make sure that you follow the University’s conflict of interest policy
• share details of the conflict with the funder, and any collaborator

Conflicts of interest for US funded projects

University policy

• Conflict of Interest for US Funded Research.pdf (87.04 KB)

Funder policies

Some US funders have their own conflict of interest policies. This includes the National Science Foundation (NSF) as well as US Public Health Service (PHS) funders including: NIH, CDC and FDA. If your project is being funded by one of these institutions, make sure that you've read and acted on their conflict of interest requirements.

The policies apply to funding which is awarded directly as well as indirectly e.g. where the University receives US funding via another institution or sub-contracts out to another organisation.