Conflict of interest
Oxford's Conflict of Interest policy, approved by the University Council, requires that all 'staff and students are required to recognise and disclose activities that might give rise to conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts and to ensure that such conflicts are seen to be properly managed or avoided.'
Conflicts of interest (CoI) may be financial or non-financial or both.
University Policy (link)
University Procedure
Section D of the University policy sets out when and how a Conflict of Interest (CoI) disclosure should be made.
- Many situations will require nothing more than a declaration and a brief written record of that declaration (to be held in the held in the department's or college's records) (cf. section 18-20).
- Some instances will, however, need to be dealt with by agreeing with the Head of Department (or equivalent) how the conflict can be actively managed and documenting this in a short plan (cf. sections 22-23).
- There are, however, some particular instances where the general procedure is varied and further specific steps are required such that approval is obtained not only from the Head of Department (or equivalent) but from a designated University official (cf. sections 26-27) as set out in the table at Appendix B.
Illustrative Examples of Conflict of Interest situations
The University Policy (cf. Appendix A) provides some illustrative examples of situation which give rise to conflicts of interest in relation to Financial interests; Research; Student supervision and teaching; and other areas of possible conflict.