Conflict of Interest
All key personnel on a research project will need to complete a Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosure each calendar year. This will be done by completing the COI disclosure form and submitting it through IRBNet.
If additional potential conflicts are identified within the year, investigators are required to submit an ad hoc disclosure within 30 days of discovering the potential conflict.
Any Principal Investigator (PI), Co-Investigators, or key personnel involved in design, conduct, or reporting of a research project or externally sponsored programs at Western Kentucky University.
See the CITI Training Page for more information on trainings that may be required in conjunction with your disclosure.
Disclosures are required each calendar year for key personnel completing any research or sponsored program. This should be completed at the proposal stage, required at the award stage, and no later than 12/31 for that calendar year.
If additional potential conflicts are identified within the year, investigators are required to submit an ad hoc disclosure within 30 days of discovering the potential conflict.
The Department of Energy requires Conflict of Interest disclosures to be completed before proposal submission.
Conflicts of interest are situations where an investigator or personnel may have financial or personal considerations that could compromise an investigator’s judgment. This is not to say that it would happen but having documentation of all types of potential conflicts helps us safeguard research and create an environment of research integrity.
Types of Conflicts of Interest
Any situation where an investigator or key personnel could gain or lose financially from the research conducted. This could be direct or indirect and often times comes us where you hold a business or are involved in a business venture related to research.
For Example: I am conducting research on the effects of a behavioral intervention that the company I am CEO of developed. I would need to disclose this using the disclosure form. The COI board will then help me develop a Conflict Management Plan in order to protect the integrity of the research.
This occurs when an investigator or key personnel have personal relationships that could impact the integrity of the research. This is not simply having working relationships with people but usually when the relationship could impact the research by creating bias for those you have personal relationships with.
For Example: I am conducting research on a product that my family owns. This would have to be disclosed.
Any foreign relationship including but not limited to professional affiliations, collaboration with foreign entities, compensation from foreign entities, foreign grant support, receiving foreign resources, and participation in foreign talent programs.
For Example: I am collaborating with a professor at a university in a country of concerns on a research project. I will receive travel reimbursement from the university. This needs to be disclosed.
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