Administrative Updates Conflict of Interest

COI Program Move to Annual Disclosure Model

by Brent Eisenbarth

A message from Quinton Johnson, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Compliance

Effective today, the Conflict of Interest (COI) Program is moving to an annual disclosure model.

If you are involved in the design, conduct, or reporting of sponsored or human subjects research, you will:

  1. complete your annual disclosure form during the yearly disclosure period, and
  2. update your annual disclosure within 30 days of a change in their interests.

COI training is fully integrated into the disclosure workflow. Most researchers will complete their training and disclosure in under 10 minutes.

What you need to do

Please complete your new annual disclosure form.

After this transition, the COI Office will use your annual disclosure to review all grant, contract, and IRB submissions. If your disclosure is not on file, those reviews may be delayed.

In future years, your disclosure form will pre-populate from your previously reported information, so updates will be quick and easy.

Policy update

The University’s new Policy on Individual Conflicts of Interest in Research aligns management plans with the U.S. Public Health Service definition for Financial Conflicts of Interest. Existing management plans will no longer apply. The COI Office will contact affected researchers directly to transition them into the new management plan model.

Why this matters

This change constitutes a significant outcome of UNC’s Research Roadmap. The move to an annual disclosure model will reduce the number of disclosures by twelve-fold and the number of management plans by five-fold. By adopting an annual disclosure model, we return valuable time to researchers, while still receiving the information necessary to uphold the highest level of integrity and compliance.

Resources to support you

We welcome your questions and feedback.