UTC Outside Interest Disclosure Form Help Guide for Researchers

WHO must submit OID forms?

UT System Policy GE0002 – Conflicts of Interest and Commitment  requires all UTC faculty, staff, and graduate students holding assistantships to annually file & maintain an up-to-date disclosure of outside interests and activities. 

WHY are OID forms important?

This disclosure process helps the University identify and manage conflicts between employees’ outside interests and their University responsibilities.  Good stewardship of taxpayer funding for research, and preventing improper influence on that research, is a priority for the University of Tennessee.  For individuals engaged in sponsored research, it is critical that UTC identify potential COIs as soon as possible to avoid potential legal, financial, and program implementation issues – for the institution as well as individual researchers. Note that disclosing an activity does not imply wrongdoing, nor does a disclosure mean that there is a conflict—it simply helps the university identify any perceived, potential, or actual conflicts that may need to be managed. 

WHEN should employees submit OID Forms?

WHAT Should I Disclose?

The annotated OID text below provides clarification and examples to help respond to the questions on the form.  Please also review the UT Policy Guidance documents What to Disclose and Disclosures for Research Activities.  Most importantly, when in doubt, always disclose an outside interest or activity. 

HOW do OID Forms Align with Disclosures Required by Sponsoring Agencies?

ALL faculty, staff, and graduate assistants are required to complete an OID form.  However, grant & contract sponsoring agencies often require additional disclosures during the application process and/or prior to an award of funding. 

WHERE Can I Go for Help or Questions?

Below is a preview of what to expect on the OID form along with some helpful hints. Note that you may be required to provide additional information/details on any items you answer “yes.”

Outside Affiliations

Q: Are you an employee, board member, director, officer, consultant, contractor, or are otherwise affiliated with any external (non-UT) entity? Include for-profit entities (i.e., companies, corporations, partnerships, LLCs, etc.) and non-profit entities. Exclude part-time retail and restaurant service positions.

*Note* You must disclose board membership positions at non-profit organizations. Do not include external sponsors funding research awards / contracts processed through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

If yes, enter all business/entity names into the form.  

*Note* you must hit enter after each entity name to complete this item.

Business Ownership Interests

Q: Do you have an ownership, equity, or other financial interest in any publicly-held company that exceeds $5,000 in value or 5% of the entity - you do not need to disclose equity held in diversified financial holdings that you and your family do not directly control, influence, or manage (i.e., retirement accounts or mutual funds)?

If yes, enter all business/entity names into the form.

External Academic Relationships

Q: Do you have any relationship with any external (non-UT) colleges, universities, or other academic institutions? Include all entities for which you hold a faculty, research, or courtesy appointment, teach classes, have a research laboratory.

*Note* This includes things such as holding a dual appointment at a 2-year college, an honorary position at another institution, serving as an adjunct instructor, having access to a laboratory at another institution.

If yes, enter all business/entity names into the form.

Foreign Relationships

Q1: Do you have any foreign research funding or non-financial support (such as but not limited to equipment, facilities access, gifts, or personnel) which is not processed through the University of Tennessee?

*Note* An example would be access to a laboratory or the ability to direct students or research staff working in a laboratory in another country.

If yes, enter all business/entity names into the form.

Q2: Are you a member of, or have you been asked to participate in, any foreign government talent recruitment program? (In general, a foreign government talent recruitment program includes any foreign government-sponsored, foreign government-run, or foreign government-funded recruitment programs that may be focused on improving basic research or establishing dominance in emerging technology sectors.)

 

*Note* If you’re unsure, please disclose the relationship then contact [email protected] in the UTC Office of Research Integrity.

If yes, please explain this relationship.

Funding or Sponsorship of your Activities

Q: Has any external (non-UT) entity paid for, sponsored, reimbursed, or otherwise supported your research, publications, or other academic or commercial activities other than through a UT sponsored project or gift account, in either the past 12 months or is anticipated to do so in the next 12 months?

*Note* This is a broad question, essentially asking if you have received any form of financial support that did not flow through UTC as a gift or sponsored project. Examples include the following: (1) if a for-profit company paid you to develop an algorithm for a new app as a consultant, (2) if a professional organization paid for your publication costs, (3) if you received a fellowship from an organization to support your creative/scholarly activities that was an award to individual made directly to you rather than flowing through UTC, or (4) if you received start-up funds or earned revenue via a commercial enterprise.

If yes, enter all business/entity names.

Funding or Sponsorship of your Travel

Q: Has any external (non-UT) entity paid for, sponsored, reimbursed, or otherwise supported your travel in the previous 12 months?

*Note* if travel is paid for by a grant or contract that is flowing through UTC, you do NOT have to disclose it. You only have to disclose travel that is paid outside of the institution.

If yes, enter all business/entity names into the form.

Research Activities

Q1: Are you a project director, principal investigator (PI), co-PI, key personnel member, or otherwise responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research, or proposals for research funding?

*Note* If you are listed as an investigator or key/senior personnel on any sponsored project or proposal, regardless of whether you are conducting research, select “yes.” Please select yes if you are currently working on an internally or externally sponsored grant award or proposal currently under development, or anticipated to be developed in the next 12 months. You should also select yes if you are doing departmentally-sponsored research using internal start-up funds or other internal sources.

If yes, you will be prompted to answer the question below.

Q2: At this time or at any time within the previous 12 months, have you or your immediate family members (spouse and dependent children):

• Received any compensation or remuneration, monetary or otherwise, from any single external (non-UT) entity operating in areas relating to your UT responsibilities?
• Held any ownership, equity, or other financial interest in any privately held company?

Outside Interest of your Immediate Family

Q: Do your parents, spouse, or children contract, conduct business with, receive compensation from UT, or do they have an ownership, equity or other financial interest in; serve as an officer, director, board member, or employee of; or receive compensation from, any entity that contracts or conducts business with UT? Please include for-profit entities (i.e., companies, corporations, partnerships, LLCs, etc.), and non-profit entities.

*NOTE* If your family members receive any financial benefit (compensation, IP rights, sales commissions, etc.) from conducting business with UT, disclose it. For the scope of this policy, family members include your parents, your children, and your spouse.

Intellectual Property

Q: Do you receive any financial compensation from intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, trademarks, textbook royalties, etc.), other than compensation paid from UTRF? If yes, please describe all compensation, including income from the license, sale, or use by others of the intellectual property.

*NOTE* You do not have to disclose compensation from IP rights that is paid via UTRF. Any non-UTRF IP should be disclosed.

If yes, please describe and answer the additional questions below:

• Does any other person or entity receive any financial compensation from intellectual property rights that you own?
• Do you receive any compensation from intellectual property rights owned by your parents, spouse, or children?
• Do you use intellectual property owned by your parents, spouse, or children in your work for UT or for any other entity?

Foreign Travel

Q: Have you traveled internationally in the previous 12 months or do you anticipate traveling internationally in the next 12 months (exclude vacations and family visits)?

Services Performed for you or any Immediate Family by UT Employees or Students

Q: Has any UT employee or student (including residents, fellows, or postdocs), whom you supervise, advise or instruct, perform any personal services for you, or your parents, spouse, or children?

*NOTE* Personal services can include a range of activities including things like yard work, house-sitting, child/pet care, editing, technical support, etc. If you employ students in the conduct of any outside consulting or employment, that must be disclosed.

If yes, list the employee or student’s name; services performed; and compensation paid to the employee/student.

Personal and Family Relationships

Q: In your position at UT, do you supervise any UT employee or student (including resident, fellow, or postdoc) with whom you have a familial relationship (parent, spouse, or child) or external (non-UT) business relationship?

*Note* Even if you do not regularly supervise a family member, you should answer yes to this question if you are preparing a sponsored program proposal or working on a sponsored award where a family member will be a Co-PI or member of the project team.

If yes, list the employee or student’s name; position title; and employee/student’s department.

Other Disclosures

Q: Other than those items disclosed in response to previous questions, do you have any outside interests, activities, or relationships that conflict, could potentially conflict, or could appear to a reasonable person to conflict, with your job duties, responsibilities, or commitments at UT?

*Note* If you receive compensation or support from any external source (other than part-time retail or restaurant work) that hasn’t been covered in the questions above, you should disclose it here. If you are unsure, disclose.