Externally sponsored research is a vital part of the University of New Hampshire's (UNH) mission. As this activity grows in sophistication and complexity, it intersects increasingly with industrial explorations and entrepreneurial ventures creating for investigators the potential for conflicting interests. 

UNH has a financial conflict of interest in research program to protect the integrity of UNH's externally-funded research enterprise and UNH employees who engage in externally-funded research, by identifying and managing financial conflicts of interest in research.

A financial conflict of interest in research exists when it can be reasonably determined that an investigator's personal financial concerns could directly and significantly influence the design, conduct, or reporting of sponsored research activities. Faculty and staff of the University have an obligation to scrupulously maintain the objectivity of their research so as to avoid any conflict of interest.

UNH has two policies on financial conflict of interest in research to protect the integrity of externally-sponsored research and to comply with federal regulations. The purpose the policies is to identify and eliminate or manage any possible threat to research objectivity at UNH and, where conflicts could affect the rights and welfare of human subjects in research, to identify and eliminate or manage the conflicts that could lead to the unethical treatment of research subjects. 

One policy applies specifically to research funded, or proposed for funding, by the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) and other organizations that require compliance with the PHS financial conflict of interest in research regulations (see this webpage for more information about this policy).  The second policy is applicable to research funded by all other organizations.

The main components of the program are:

• Disclosure of investigators' financial interests that might be affected by the research at the time of proposal submission (disclosure form and instructions available here);
• Review of disclosures by the UNH Disclosure Review Committee (DRC); 
• Where applicable, development of a management plan (plan template available here) to minimize or eliminate the risks associated with any interests that qualify as significant (per Section 3.9 of the policy);
• Completion of required Web-based training (available at https://www.unh.edu/rcr/Conflict-Title.htm) of all investigators submitting management plans before the release of project funds;
• Oversight and monitoring of compliance with management plans; and
• Periodic review of management plans and reporting to the DRC.

Please contact Julie Simpson, Director, Research Integrity Services (603/862-2003) or Tammy Goldberg, Director, OSVPR Finance and Administration (603/862-0152) with any questions.