{"id":18,"date":"2021-01-08T15:38:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T15:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/?page_id=18"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:59:13","slug":"conflicts-of-interest-conflicts-of-commitment-and-outside-activities-policy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/conflicts-of-interest-conflicts-of-commitment-and-outside-activities-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflicts of Interest, Conflicts of Commitment and Outside Activities Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Colleges, schools and units manage the <\/span>Conflicts of Interest, Conflicts of Commitment and Outside Activities Policy<\/span><\/a>. The policy requires prior approval for compensated outside activities as well as disclosures of conflicts of interest to supervisors within the college, school, or unit. The Conflicts of Interest Office will assist colleges, schools, and units with implementation and oversight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conflicts of Interest<\/h2>\n

UGA employees are required to make every reasonable effort to avoid actual or apparent conflicts of interest. Employees have an ongoing responsibility to report and fully disclose any personal, professional or financial interest, relationship, or activity that has the potential to create an actual or apparent conflict with the employee\u2019s UGA duties. Employees make conflict of interest disclosures to their supervisors via the Conflicts of Interest <\/span>Disclosure Form<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conflicts of Commitment<\/h2>\n

UGA employees are forbidden to engage in any occupation, pursuit or endeavor that will interfere with the regular and punctual discharge of that employee\u2019s official duties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside Activities<\/h2>\n

Each UGA employee with a work commitment of 30 or more hours per week (.75 or more FTE) must obtain written approval prior to engaging in compensated outside activities that relate to the employee\u2019s expertise or responsibilities as a UGA employee. Such activities include consulting, teaching, speaking and participating in business, professional or service enterprises.<\/span><\/p>\n

Certain staff are pre-approved to perform compensated outside activities if all six of the following conditions are met:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the employee\u2019s UGA job has no supervisory responsibilities;<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. the compensated outside activity is not for a current or prospective UGA vendor the employee interacts with, supervises or is involved in the selection or evaluation of;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. the compensated outside activity occurs outside the employee\u2019s UGA work hours;<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. no UGA resources are utilized in the performance of the compensated outside activity;<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. the employee submits a <\/span>Staff Notification Form for Pre-Approved Compensated Outside Activities<\/span><\/a> in advance to the employee\u2019s department head or director (with the notification to be re-submitted annually): and<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. the compensated outside activity complies with any unit-specific restrictions imposed by the employee\u2019s unit, as approved in writing by Human Resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All faculty, and any staff who do not meet the conditions for pre-approval, must submit the <\/span>Compensated Outside Activities Approval Form<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cApprovers\u201d of outside activity requests should be mindful of any YES answers on the form to questions 7a-f and forward the request to <\/span>coi@uga.edu<\/span><\/a> before approving of the activity. The Office of Research will review these activities with a sponsored research, intellectual property or startup nexus. The review includes guidance on approval, potential restrictions or related conflict of interest management. Ultimate approval or imposition of restrictions or a management plan lies with colleges, schools and units.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Special Considerations for Outside Activities with Foreign Entities<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The University community is strongly encouraged to review <\/span>this presentation<\/span><\/a> from the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy. In particular, pay close attention to the five university case studies and the examples of problematic talent recruitment program contract terms illustrated in slides 9-29.\u00a0 While this presentation emphasizes the risks associated with international engagement, particularly with China, the principles regarding disclosure and management of potential conflicts apply broadly to all countries, as well as to domestic engagement outside the university.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Policy Contact<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Gene Pope, Director-Conflicts of Interest Review & Management <\/span>gene.pope@uga.edu<\/span><\/a>, 706-542-3821<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Colleges, schools and units manage the Conflicts of Interest, Conflicts of Commitment and Outside Activities Policy. The policy requires prior approval for compensated outside activities as well as disclosures of conflicts of interest to supervisors within the college, school, or unit. The Conflicts of Interest Office will assist colleges, schools, and units with implementation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-18","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions\/162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/coi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}