Federal Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI)

The federal government seeks to promote objectivity in research by establishing standards that provide a reasonable expectation that the design, conduct, and reporting of research performed under federally funded grants or cooperative agreements will be free from bias resulting from an investigator’s financial conflicts of interest.

This short (7 minutes) video by Ethics Unwrapped explains what financial conflicts of interest in research are, why it’s important to disclose and manage them, and how the process is part of the ethical conduct of research.

If I’m a PI, what do I need to do? 

PIs and co-PIs with federal awards or applying for federal funding must do two things. 1) Review the requirements for compliance with LMU’s FCOI policy and 2) disclose any significant financial conflicts of interests to the Office for Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) prior to proposal submission, at the time of award if anything has changed, and annually for the life of the award by filling out this form. ORSP will be happy to answer any questions you might have. 

FCOI Training required by NIH may be completed here.