Overview

University of North Carolina at Asheville Investigator Conflict of Interest Policy 1403 (PHS sponsored) or Policy 1404 (non-PHS sponsored) requires that PIs and all personnel working on research projects, regardless of source of funding or lack thereof, disclose financial information that may reasonably be perceived to influence their work. This policy is intended to promote objectivity in research with the reasonable expectation that the design, conduct, and reporting of the research will be free from bias resulting from Investigator financial conflicts of interest.

Please note that having something to disclose does not imply any wrongdoing or inappropriate activities. The emphasis is on disclosure of financial interests so that UNC Asheville can conform to federal financial disclosure rules and those of many granting entities.

Who Needs to Disclose

All University faculty, non-faculty employees, students (graduate and undergraduate, part-time or full-time) and other individuals who, in the course of their association with the University:

  1. apply for or receive funds for any research or training purpose, by grant or sub-grant, or by contract or subcontract, or by cooperative agreement, or are engaged in research (i.e.: are responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research; or (For example: an undergraduate student entering data must disclose because they are engaged in the conduct of the study, or administrative personnel must disclose, who have decision-making authority over the distribution of funds, whether research or discretionary)
  2. conduct unsponsored/unfunded research

Disclosing for Non-UNC Asheville Researchers

For projects involving contracts, sub-agreements or collaborations with outside institutions or groups, UNC Asheville will take steps to ensure that any sub-recipient Investigator complies with the Public Health Service, pursuant to 42 CFR Part 50, Subpart F by incorporating as part of a written agreement with the sub-recipient terms that establish whether the financial conflicts of interest policy of the awardee Institution or that of the sub-recipient will apply to the sub-recipient’s Investigators.

In the event the outside entity has no investigator conflict-of-interest policy, the written agreement referenced above shall specify time period(s) for the sub-recipient to submit all Investigator disclosures of significant financial interests to UNC Asheville. The sub-recipient will be required to:

  1. complete the UNC Asheville PHS sponsored Conflict of Interest Disclosure (FCOI) or non-PHS sponsored Conflict of Interest Disclosure.
  2. provide to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs before issuance of sub-recipient agreement.
  3. comply with the UNC Asheville’s Conflict of Interest Policy 1403 (PHS sponsored) or Policy 1404 (non-PHS sponsored).

***The FDP FCOI Institutional Clearinghouse provides a central location for educational institutions and other entities to certify their compliance with PHS Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) rules and regulations. Note that not all institutions are registered on this website; you may need to contact them directly for more information about their CoI Program.

What You Need to Disclose

All investigators should disclose any “financial interest” or other personal involvement of the investigator, or his or her immediate family, that relate to the individual’s Institutional responsibilities.

Financial interest means anything of monetary value, whether or not the value is readily ascertainable. Interests include, but are not limited to: income; honoraria or other payment for services; equity such as stock, stock options or other ownership rights, employment; reimbursed travel or sponsored travel; and services, relationships or positions, even if uncompensated.

Excluded from the disclosure requirement are:

  1. Interests of any amount in publicly traded, diversified mutual funds, pension funds, or other institutional investment funds over which the faculty member does not exercise control); patents and copyrights; contracts, licensing and other agreements; royalties (including those royalties distributed by the University).
  2. Income from seminars, lectures, or teaching engagements, reimbursed travel or sponsored travel, and service on advisory or review panels sponsored by a federal, state, or local government agency, an Institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a), an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with an Institution of higher education.

For more information on the type of interests to disclose, please review the UNC Asheville’s Policy 1403 (PHS sponsored) or Policy 1404 (non-PHS sponsored) for conflict of interest.


Non-UNC Asheville Collaborators

Confirm if the Non-UNC Asheville Investigator’s Institution has a U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) / U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) or National Science Foundation (NSF) compliant CoI policy. Choice of federal policy alignment based on funding source. Follow the instructions matching the researcher’s situation.

Step 1: Non-UNC Asheville Institution CoI Policy Status

Verify that the Non-UNC Asheville Institution Has A Compliant Conflict of Interest (CoI) Policy:

Information regarding the non-UNC Asheville investigator’s Conflict of Interest (CoI) policy may be available on their institution’s website. It should conform and/or reference the following U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) or National Science Foundation (NSF) policies / regulations:

Additionally, you can search the “Federal Demonstration Partnership FCOI Institutional Clearinghouse” website. This site provides a central location for many educational institutions and other entities to document that they are within compliance with the PHS Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) rules and regulations.

Step 2: Instructions

Non-Affiliated Investigators from an institution with a PHS or NSF compliant conflict of interest policy, are required to only provide a completed Non-UNC Asheville Investigator Attestation Form.

Non-Affiliated Researchers from an Institution without a PHS or NSF compliant conflict of interest policy, are required to submit a UNC Asheville CoI Disclosure Certification and email it to ORSP Associate Director. These Non-Affiliated Researchers will be subject to UNC Asheville’s Conflict of Interest policy.



FAQ

Yes

Your CoI disclosure is maintained as confidential information. Only ORSP staff and the CoI Committee will have access to your information.

A Significant Financial Interest (SFI) is defined as one of the following:

  • A financial or other personal interests of the investigator, his or her spouse, domestic partner, children, parent or siblings that reasonably appears to be related to the Investigator’s institutional responsibilities:
  • Service as an officer, director or in any other fiduciary role for a financially interested company, whether or not remuneration is received for such service;
  • Intellectual property rights (e.g., pending patent applications, patents, licenses, material transfer agreements, copyrights and royalties of any amount from such rights, including those royalties distributed by the University);
  • With regard to any publicly traded entity, a significant financial interest exists if the value of any remuneration received from the entity in the twelve months preceding the disclosure and the value of any equity interest in the entity as of the date of disclosure, when aggregated, exceeds $5,000. For purposes of this definition, remuneration includes compensation, royalties, consulting fees, honoraria, gifts or other emoluments, bonuses, enrollment incentives or milestone payments, and “in kind” compensation or entitlement to same made directly or indirectly to the investigator by a financially interested company (or entitlement to the same), whether for consulting, lecturing, travel (including reimbursed travel or sponsored travel), service on an advisory board, or for any purpose not directly related to the reasonable costs of conducting the research (as specified in the research agreement between the sponsor and the University), as determined through reference to public prices or other reasonable measures of fair market value, either in the year prior to the grant application or initiation of unsponsored research and submission of the accompanying Disclosure Form, or in the twelve months following the grant application or initiation of unsponsored research;
  • Greater than 1% of the ownership of stock, assets or profits of a company which has, or seeks to have an agreement with the University, where the agreement is for the development of scientific or technological discoveries or innovations in which the University has or will have a property right.
  • Equity interests, including stock options, of any amount in a non-publicly traded financially interested company (or entitlement to the same);
  • Equity interests (or entitlement to the same) that in aggregate exceed $5,000 in a publicly-traded financially interested company

Yes. If the investigator can influence the decision as to which company sells reagents to her lab, she must disclose the financial interest because it relates to her institutional responsibilities. This kind of financial interest is unlikely to be determined to affect or potentially affect research. It is, however, likely to be an issue under the State ethics rules.

Generally speaking this includes teaching, research, administration, and professional practice; as well as other activities that involve the same expertise for which UNC Asheville employs the Investigator. For example: a geneticist who writes a textbook on genetics would disclose it; a geneticist who wrote a science fiction book that requires an understanding of genetics would disclose that also; but if a geneticist wrote a book on baseball, that would not be disclosed.

No

No, that type of manufacturing is unrelated to the Investigator’s institutional responsibilities.

Yes, if both the stock value combined with the consulting fees exceeded $5,000 in the last 12 months.

Yes

Yes

Yes, there is no threshold for disclosing equity, since no specific value can be attributed to equity in a privately-held firm. The existence of an interest would be disclosed but not quantified.

Because the value of the stocks are not readily available.

Reimbursed or sponsored travel is related to the investigator’s institutional responsibilities (and includes the purpose of the trip, the name of sponsor/organizer, the destination, the duration of the trip).

PHS grant-funded travel does NOT need to be disclosed.

“Sponsored” in this case means paid directly to vendors (i.e., the investigator may not even know the costs involved).

The federal regulations require all PHS funded investigators to “disclose the occurrence of any reimbursed or sponsored travel (i.e., that which is paid on behalf of the Investigator and not reimbursed to the Investigator so that the exact monetary value may not be readily available), related to their institutional responsibilities…” 42 CFR §50.603.

Any principal investigator or any member of the key personnel on any project funded by the U.S. Public Health Service, (for example NIH). Key personnel means the PD/PI and any other person identified as key personnel by the Institution in the grant application, progress report, or any other report submitted to the PHS by the Institution under this regulation.

Includes but not limited to:

  • Reimbursed or sponsored travel related to Institutional responsibilities (including the purpose of trip, sponsor/organizer, destination, duration). Exceptions for travel are listed in the next section.
  • Travel that is reimbursed or paid directly for consulting.
  • Travel that is reimbursed or paid directly by a for-profit or non-profit organization for a conference, or to participate in a meeting.
  • Travel that is reimbursed or paid directly when the investigator has a financial interest in that entity, ie a start-up

The types of Sponsored Travel that do not need to be disclosed include:

  • Travel that is reimbursed or paid directly by a federal, state, or local government agency
  • Travel that is reimbursed or paid directly by an institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a) (or in plain English, a university)
  • Travel that is reimbursed or paid directly by an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with an institution of higher education

Travel reimbursed or paid directly by non-profit organizations in which UNC Asheville is a member institution and for which the investigator serves as a member of its governing board, a panel or a task force where such service has been approved by the UNC Asheville.

Contact Us

Herman Holt, Pd.D. – Chief Research Officer

hholt@unca.edu | (828) 232-5167

 

Address

Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
University of North Carolina at Asheville
One University Heights, CPO 2030
Asheville, North Carolina 28804