Financial Conflicts of Interest

Overview

CCNY’s Institutional Official (IO) appoints a College Conflict’s Officer (CCO) who is charged with implementing CUNY’s Conflict of Interest policy; also serving as a member on CCNY’s Research Ethics Committee, where review of significant financial interest disclosures in accordance to this policy is managed.  The REC thereby, protects the objectivity of research by reviewing and making recommendations to CUNY’s Conflicts of Interest Committee in managing conflicts in research.  A potential conflict of interest may occur when an investigator’s private interest could unduly affect, or give the appearance of affecting, the researchers professional decision. “CUNY’s Conflict of Interest policy establishes standards to ensure that there is no reasonable possibility that any conflicting interests will bias the design, conduct, reporting or review of research projects at the University, regardless of the source of funding or the commercial exploitation of the results of such projects.”

Research at CCNY is subject to CUNY's Conflict of Interest Policy as approved by the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York on September 30, 2013. The policy is inclusive of the revised regulations, which went into effect on August 12, 2012 and governs applicable research funded by NIH, CDC and other Public Health Services (PHS) agencies, which was set forth by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) titled Responsibility of Applications for Promoting Objectivity in Research for which PHS Funding is Sought in 2011. 

Disclosures

CUNY’s Conflict of Interest Policy mandates that each Principal Investigator complete, at the time of submission of a grant proposal or application, a financial interest disclosure form.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN NON PHS FUNDED RESEARCH

• COI Disclosure, Oversight and Management Procedure for research not funded by PHS

CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN PHS FUNDED RESEARCH

• Procedure for Complying with 2011 PHS Regulations
• PHS Conflict of RE Interest Regulations, 42 CFR Part 50. Subpart F

Regulatory Requirements

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Conflict of Interest Policies Section of the Grant Policy Manual is available here.

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) regulations establishing standards and procedures to be followed by institutions that apply for research funding from the Public Health Service (PHS) to ensure that the design, conduct, or reporting of research funded under PHS grants, cooperative agreements or contracts will not be biased by any conflicting financial interest of those investigators responsible for the research are available here.

Training Requirements

The University requires that all investigators engaging in research administered by any PHS funded grant or contract complete the CITI Program training in Conflict of Interest (COI).  In addition, training is required by all persons submitting any request for funding through CCNY’s Grants and Contracts Office. The training must be renewed every four years.

To fulfill your training in Conflicts of Interest, please follow the steps below:

1. Log in (or register as a first time user) at https://www.citiprogram.org/
2. Click on “Add a Course or Update Learner Groups”
3. Click on button indicating “Take the Conflict of Interest Course”