Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment

Northwestern University faculty members owe their primary professional allegiance to the University. Faculty members' primary commitment of time and intellectual energies is to the education, research, and scholarship programs of the University.

A "Conflict of Interest" is defined as a divergence between a faculty member's private interests and professional obligations to the University. If an independent observer might reasonably question whether the faculty member's professional actions or decisions are determined by considerations other than the best interests of the University, a COI has occurred.

A "Conflict of Commitment" occurs when the time devoted to external activities adversely affects a faculty member's capacity to meet University responsibilities.

The University will create and the Office for Research Integrity (ORI) will manage the conflicts of interest and commitment policies. The individual schools are responsible for implementing the policies.

Internal Resources	Description
Conflict of Commitment and Conflict of Interest Policies for Faculty	University faculty conflict of commitment and conflict of interest policies and disclosure forms
Policy on Conflict of Interest for Sponsored Programs: OSR-100 Instructions and Form	All PHS, NSF and AHA applications (including PHS and NSF flow-through funding from other entities via consortia arrangements) must include signed OSR-100s from all Northwestern University investigators before OSR will endorse the proposal.
Conflict of Commitment and Conflict of Interest Policies for Staff	University staff conflict of commitment and conflict of interest policy

External Resources	Description
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Conflict of Interest Information & Resources	NIH conflict of interest resources for understanding and complying with regulations aimed at ensuring that the design, conduct, or reporting of research funded under grants and cooperative agreements will not be biased by any conflicting financial interest of the PIs responsible for the research.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Extramural Research Conflict of Interest FAQs   new!	Frequently asked questions regarding the implementation of NIH's COI regulation.
National Science Foundation (NSF) Conflict of Interest and Standards of Ethical Conduct Policy	NSF Conflict of Interest and Standards of Ethical Conduct Policy applicable to NSF employees; includes relevance and guidelines for visiting scientists and temporary consultants to the NSF.