This policy sets out the procedures to be followed by the university in respect to actual, perceived or potential conflicts of interest. The university encourages staff and students to engage in external activities, many of which are also of benefit to the university. On occasion activities may give rise to Conflicts of Interest. This policy seeks to manage these Conflicts of Interest in a manner that is fair to all.
Download the Conflicts of Interest Policy
If in doubt or have any questions always feel free to speak with the TTO
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The Policy is not limited to Research. It covers all activities of the university’s staff, students and associates (collectively “Persons”) and all circumstances where a Person’s potential conflict of interest could influence that Person’s behaviour, were it not identified and managed.
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No staff member of the university is excluded from the Policy, which also applies to all students and associates of the university. Academic Freedom is a well understood concept that exists to safeguard the right of individual academic staff to undertake research and scholarship independently and unconstrained from political or other extraneous pressure and influence, within certain limits defined in Paragraphs 1.1.3 and 1.3.1 of the University’s Code of Conduct for the Responsible
Practice of Research. Academic Freedom is not a relevant concept in relation to e.g. hiring staff, procuring products or services for SETU Waterford, placing sub-contracts, pricing work for external organisations, granting rights of access to external organisations, etc, etc.
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Any employee who ignores the Policy risks being subjected to the relevant Institute Disciplinary Process if he/she fails to disclose a potential conflict of interest to his/her Head of Department or Line Manager, or the relevant Professional Service Department e.g. HR or the TTO. For students ignoring the Policy and failing to disclose a potential conflict of interest to their supervisor or [course leader] could lead to disciplinary action under the relevant Institute regulations. For Associates, failure to disclose a potential conflict of interest to the most relevant/ applicable Head of Department could lead to termination of their associate status with the university e.g. termination of consultancy contract, termination of visiting status, etc.
All the above sanctions are easily avoided if potential conflicts of interest are disclosed early, discussed with line management (supervisor of course leader in the case of students) and decisions taken and recorded about how they should be managed (if indeed they need to be managed at all).
If a Person fails to disclose a potential conflict of interest and proceeds to take any actions/ inactions which benefit themselves, their families or third parties unfairly then this will always be treated as misconduct under the relevant Institute Disciplinary Process with sanctions up to and including dismissal available in respect of staff.
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Conflict Register(s) will not be published automatically by the university and will not normally be disclosed publically except where there is a standing statutory obligation on the university to publish - such as Declaration of Interests for Senior Managers and Governing Body Members in line with the Ethics in Public Office Act of 1995 and 2001 or the Standards in Public Office Act of 2001.
There is a possibility that the university may be the subject of a Freedom of Information Enquiry that is sufficiently specific as to require some information from a Conflict Register to be disclosed. This would normally only be done as a last resort and with no disclosure of your personal information, in line with the paragraph 37 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 which allows heads to refuse to grant access to a record that would involve the disclosure of personal information.
As noted in the Conflict of Interest Policy, any personal data shall be held and maintained in accordance with data protection requirements and the university’s Data Protection Policy.
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The aim is that the information will only be held on Conflict Register(s) for as long as is necessary. Typically this will be to the end of the end of the academic year in which the governing body has approved the removal of the item from the Conflict Register. Events signalling the end of a potential Conflict of Interest include but are not limited to (i) the end of the employee’s business relationship with a third party, (ii) the end of any Research Contract(s) in respect of which Conflicts of Interest were being managed, (iii) the end of the employee having a role in the university from which he/ she could influence relevant decisions, etc
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If this happens, or looks like it might, the advice of relevant Professional Services Departments such as HR and the TTO should be sought as soon as possible. In the event that there is still a disagreement after the involvement of Professional Services, the matter shall be referred to the Conflict of Interest Committee. In the event that the Conflict of Interest Committee’s decision is appealed the matter will be referred by the Committee to the President of the university whose decision will be final.
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The university is a public body created under the Institutes of Technology Act 2006, cited at: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2006/act/25/enacted/en/html, superceded by the Technological Universities Act 2018 (https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/act/3/enacted/en/html).
As such the university is required to comply with the Ethics in Public Office Act of 1995 and 2001, and the Standards in Public Office Act of 2001. This in turn requires the university to address its own, and its employees’ (and students’ and associates’), Conflicts of Interest in line with the standards expected of public bodies.
The university’s employees, students and associates are expected at all times to exercise good faith as they perform their roles and trust in both directions between the university and its employees, students and associates is essential. A very high % of potential conflicts of interest are entirely accidental circumstances that arise from time to time and in many cases the affected Person will have no previous experience of managing them. The Policy has been designed to provide a framework within which potential conflicts of interest can be identified and managed in an open and transparent way and with no presumptions in relation to the Person’s underlying motivations i.e. trust is not compromised – the intention is to help the Person operate within “safe” parameters.
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The two policies share some common underlying principles, and Section 2.7 of the Code of Conduct for the Responsible Practice of Research recognises this. In some cases where a potential conflict of interest may impinge primarily on matters of research integrity, then the university’s Research Integrity Officer must be consulted for advice or guidance, but the general principle of the Conflict of Interest policy i.e. that potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed to the line manager or supervisor is the primary guidance that must be followed.
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No. Knowing a person or an organisation you have to work with is not in itself a potential conflict of interest. The purpose of the Policy is to identify only those situations where your own actions or inactions as an employee, student or associate of the university could potentially favour one person or one organisation unfairly over another.
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It depends. An important part of Conflict of Interest at institutional level is the external perception that may be created of how the university conducts itself. If you end up in a situation where you are involved in an individual procurement process that selects a supplier you know well and are perceived as being close to, even if you have done nothing untoward and stuck rigidly to Procurement Procedures, the perception outside may be that the supplier was selected unfairly due to your relationship with them. So this is a case where the potential conflict of interest should have been identified and managed up-front, using the Conflict of Interest Policy.
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The limits to the company’s influence over the research and its results are set out in the research contract between the university and the company. Usually the company’s rights extend only as far as agreeing work programmes in advance, seeing results “first” e.g. through progress reports, and having a period to review proposed publications in order to protect the company’s interests and/or identify potentially valuable IPRs.
The university’s Code of Conduct for the Responsible Practice of Research, Code of Conduct (for staff) and Intellectual Property Policies are important reference points, but the Conflict of Interest Policy is relevant if there is any potential perception that the research programme or its results could be adjusted better to serve the company’s commercial interests especially in cases where future funding from the company may be at stake.
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In general, the university supports the creation of Spin-out Companies, as laid out in paragraph 6.4 of the Intellectual Property Policy. In many cases the university, through the TTO, can work with academic founders to agree the terms under which Spin-out Companies can be formed. This can – and often does – include creating service companies where the primary source of the income is based on the know-how and expertise of the academic founder(s) rather than, e.g. Patents or other IPRs. So the correct course of action is to contact your line management and the TTO to discuss your ideas.
Conversely, setting up a company without reference to the university and selling services that are directly related to the knowledge and skills you practice as an university employee, especially if these services could legitimately be performed by you as an employee of the university, would represent a clear Conflict of Interest that would require to be addressed under the Policy.
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These sort of publications constitute Literary Works, as explained in Section 5.1 of the university’s Intellectual Property Policy. In general, so long as the guidance in Section 5.1 of the Intellectual Property Policy is followed, there is no need to cite this activity under the Conflict of Interest Policy.
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The university in general is supportive of staff taking on these types of appointments so long as the potential Conflicts of Interest are managed. If in working regularly with this company, you are involved in any university decisions that may affect the company e.g. a pricing decision, then the proposed appointment could expose you to a heightened risk of Conflict of Interest. The correct course of action is to raise the potential for a Conflict of Interest with your line manager and with the TTO in all instances. In the event that joining the Board is a remunerated position this needs to be declared to the line managers and the Vice President for Research, Innovation & Graduate Studies, as set out in Section 6.4 of the Intellectual Property Policy and agreement reached before the appointment is accepted.
If the proposed appointment is truly in a personal capacity, then the appointment must be pre-approved by the President of the university again as set out in Section 6.4 of the Intellectual Property Policy.
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It depends. If the Committee that you are a member of oversees discrete business decisions of the university e.g. the Commercialisation Committee, then you may from time to time be placed in situations where a perceived conflict of interest arises and you have to excuse yourself from the Committee for the purposes of the respective decision. While this may be a conflict that you have already declared on a “personal interests register” or similar, it could just as easily be a conflict that is only recognised when the matter arises e.g. when it affects the interests of a family member, close personal friend, or external business associate so in these cases the Conflict of Interest Policy needs to be followed.