Conflict of Interest
Our office works to promote and maintain research objectivity and public trust in research and entrepreneurial activities based on intellectual property developed at Purdue. We assist the university community in finding appropriate research and collaborative frameworks that ensure ethical and productive engagement of faculty- and student-entrepreneurs with their industrial partners. We reduce administrative burden by creating modern tools for disclosure and management of research related financial conflicts of interest (FCOI).
Overview of Financial Interest (FI) Disclosure and FCOI Management
Step 1: Disclosure of FIs
Event Based:
- Proposal
- Protocol
- Licensing
- Contracting
Annual
Step 2: Administrative Review and FCOI Determination
FCOI Manageable:
- Execute FCOI Management Plan
FCOI Unmanageable:
- Eliminate conflicts or reduce FIs
Step 3: FCOI Management
- Monitoring: OM
- Project based COI reviews: EVPRP
- Contracts with employee-owned companies: SPS, EVPRP, VPEC
- Licensing: OTC and EVPRP
- Annual Reporting of Compliance: OM and RO
- Quality Assurance/Audits: as needed
Step 4: Reporting and Disclosures
Investigator / Employee:
- Discloses FIs in publications and presentations
- To students, trainees, collaborators, and Human Subjects
Purdue / EVPRP:
- Submits FCOI reports to sponsors
- Responds to public requests for information
Acronyms: EVPRP – Executive Vice President for Research, FI – Financial Interests, FCOI – Financial Conflicts of Interest, OM – Oversight Manager, OTC – Office of Technology Commercialization, RO – Responsible Official in EVPRP, SPS – Sponsored Programs Services, VPEC – Office of the Vice President for Ethics and Compliance
New and Notable
The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a new Interim Conflict of Interest Policy that impacts Investigators and Institutions applying for funding from DOE and its agencies. For DOE Investigators, main changes include the requirement to complete FCOI Training before engaging in DOE sponsored research and a requirement to complete a Travel Disclosure (in addition to the Significant Financial Interest Disclosure) before proposal submission to Sponsor. Purdue implemented the new regulation as described HERE.