Conflicts of Interest are the natural outgrowth of successful research, collaboration, and commercialization efforts. The Conflict of Interest team, in conjunction with the faculty-led Conflict of Interest Review Committee and Business Conflict of Interest team, is charged with effectively managing conflicts of interest.
Disclosures
At Georgia Tech, we provide ample opportunities to disclose your external activities. Here are some:
- Self-Reporting: ServiceNow Disclosure System
- During purchase orders: WorkDay
- During Grant submission: eRouting
Research Objectivity and Business Conflicts
Conflicts arise naturally from relationships that Georgia Tech faculty and staff have outside of Georgia Tech. The Conflict of Interest team focuses on reviewing individuals' external activities and ensuring that there are no conflicts. Conflicts may give the perception that an individual has enough of an interest in a company or product that they may not be objective while working on Georgia Tech activities. If there is a conflict, we strive to find a way to manage it. We do this by finding ways to separate the external activity and the research.
We ask that you disclose all external activities via our disclosure system here. If you have questions, please email us at: coi@gatech.edu.
Conflict of Commitment
When individuals have professional relationships outside of Georgia Tech that require a time commitment that may interfere with their ability to complete their Georgia Tech duties, there is a Conflict of Commitment. To help discuss this concern, we work across campus to ascertain whether there is a Conflict of Commitment and how to manage it.
Foreign Engagement
Georgia Institute of Technology encourages the fostering of relationships with groups outside of the United States. The Institute also acknowledges that we have entered into agreements with sponsors about mitigating the risks involved with working with foreign groups. As such, we work with the Foreign Activity group, grant administration, and other groups across campus to help review and address these cases. We ask that all foreign activities be disclosed in our ServiceNow Disclosure System so we can review them and provide information to the Office of Sponsored Projects to facilitate research agreements.
Current Events, News, and Resources
There is a lot of movement regarding foreign activity disclosure. This stems from the below presentation:
Intent for Updated Disclosure Requirements
The NIH also has updated its methods for confirming other elements of outside support:
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/othersupport.htm
More Information for foreign engagement can be found here:
Policies
- USG Policy 8.2.18.2 Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment
- Employee Policy 5.4 Conflict of Interest
- Faculty Handbook Policy 5.6 Conflict of Interest and Outside Professional Activity
- Faculty Consulting FAQs
- USG Outside Activity Approval Process