Whenever the Vice President for Research or certain direct reports are performing sponsored research as investigators, potential conflicts of interest must be considered and managed independently from the office of the Vice President for Research.  Therefore, the following provisions shall apply to such investigators:

1. Investigators covered by this Policy are: 

1. The Vice President for Research; and
2. Employees, other than research center administrators, directly reporting to the Vice President for Research.
2. Covered investigators, when submitting proposals to funding agencies, shall either:
1. Certify that they have no relationships or financial interests that are or could reasonably be perceived to conflict with their duties and responsibilities in the project; or
2. Complete and submit a “Disclosure Statement” as required by Section 442.01 of the Faculty Handbook.   
3. Any required “Disclosure Statement” in Section 442.01 shall be filed with the President, in addition to the Technology Transfer Office.
4. The President shall then appoint a qualified, independent reviewer to be responsible for:
1. Determining whether a conflict of interest exists as provided in Section 443.00 of the Faculty Handbook.
2. Waiving of a conflict of interest as provided in Section 443.01of the Faculty Handbook.
3. Developing the conflict management plan as provided in Section 443.02 of the Faculty Handbook.
4. Monitoring the Vice President for Research’s responsibilities relating to the “Disclosure Statement” and any resulting conflict management plan as outlined in Section 443.03 of the Faculty handbook.
5. Imposing sanctions for non-compliance as provided in
   Section 443.04 of the Faculty Handbook.

An employee who disagrees with a decision made by the independent reviewer as a result of this section has the same rights of appeal described in Section 443.05 of the Faculty Handbook as if the independent reviewer’s decision were the decision of the Vice President for Research.

Disclosure Form

Return to regular view	Text-only	Updated: 7/20/06