Duke University is committed to ensuring its faculty an open and productive environment in which to conduct teaching, patient care, and research. However, the ever-increasing complexity of our society and the various relationships between faculty members and outside institutions require attention to ensure the avoidance of real or apparent conflict of interest issues.

A conflict of interest can be said to exist when a member of the University community has a relationship with an outside organization such that his or her activities within the University could be biased by that relationship in a direction that would ultimately provide direct financial benefit to the individual or a close family member.

Please refer to Appendix O, “Conflict of Interest Policy,” for details on how Duke addresses issues of conflict of interest.

In addition to Duke policy, principal investigators must also adhere to sponsor policies governing conflict of interest. For instance, investigators applying to the National Institutes of Health (NIH^*) and other Public Health Service (PHS^*) agencies, as well as to the National Science Foundation (NSF^*), are required to disclose - at the time of proposal submission - any significant financial interests that might affect or be affected by the conduct of the research in their proposals.