The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is committed to avoiding, reducing, and mitigating conflicts of interest in our research endeavors. Our Conflicts of Interest & Commitment policy requires that University employees and researchers disclose their outside activities annually. In response to new federal regulations, UT will no longer submit proposals that include the involvement of individuals with expired Outside Interest Disclosures.
Historically, UT researchers funded by the Public Health Service, or its’ designees have been required to disclose and/or update outside activities prior to submitting proposals. Recently, additional funding agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of Energy have adopted or established similar requirements, motivated by growing concerns about research security. These agencies now require that all personnel identified in a proposal have current Outside Interest Disclosures on file at the time of proposal submission.
Outside Interest Disclosures are submitted in the IRIS Web Portal, via the Outside Interest Disclosure link under the Employee Self-Service tab.
Additional Information on filing Out Interest Disclosures is available at:
- Division of Finance & Administration: https://coi.utk.edu/
- IRIS Administrative Support: https://iris.tennessee.edu/oid-help/.
- UT’s Research Conflict of Interest Officer, Scott Canner, is also available for assistance at scanner2@utk.edu or 865-974-2420.