Overview

Page at a Glance:

• What does the Conflict of Interest Office do?

• Why is this important?

• Contact Information

Want to learn more? Take the Conflict of Interest for Researchers narrated online class.

What does the Conflict of Interest Office do?

The Conflict of Interest Office, under the direction of the Office of Contract and Grant Administration (OCGA), assists all employees in assessing situations under which their outside financial interests or other personal considerations may compromise or have the appearance of compromising their actions or judgments in the administration, management or performance of their professional activities at UCSD.

Back to the Top

Why is this important?

Generating new knowledge, through research, and translating that knowledge into applications that benefit society is an important mission of many major research universities, including UCSD. Any real or perceived conflicts of interest must be reviewed and, where appropriate, managed, reduced, or eliminated as competing financial interests may undermine the public's trust in the objectivity of research, as objectivity is the fundamental basis of scientific discovery.   While the focus of conflict of interest considerations is the potential for personal financial gain, other relevant interests inherent in academia, including prestige, promotion, grants, and publications, can also exert influence over research activities.

In addition, UCSD continues their long history of collaboration with industry in research, education, and public service. More recently, there have been substantial increases in the numbers of faculty and researchers with industrial affiliations and in funding from industry to UCSD for research.  University-industry interactions are reviewed for potential conflicts of interest when funding comes to the University from private sponsors, certain federal agencies, in the form of an unrestricted gift to benefit the work of a particular principal investigator (PI), or as a contract or grant to fund research or a clinical trial. Material transfer and service agreements may also be reviewed for conflict of interest.

Researchers at UCSD are subject to University of California system-wide policies, specific State of California law, as well as federal regulations for reporting financial interests related to their research.

Back to the Top

Contact Information:

Back to the Top