Conflict of Interest – Overview
Eastern Washington University has the responsibility to ensure that external influences outside the scope of an employee’s professional duties do not interfere with their institutional duties.
There are various types of conflicts that may occur in research. The most common being financial conflicts of interest. These occur when individuals have a monetary stake or benefit that is related to their research.
In addition, other types of conflicts may affect the ethical conduct or integrity of research. These types of conflicts are generally called conflicts of commitment. A conflict of commitment occurs when an individual has difficulty balancing the effort necessary to perform their job duties while engaging in additional activities that may or may not be related to their job.
Federal and State regulations and laws have been enacted to mitigate financial conflicts of interest and to promote ethical conduct. Additionally, university policies are intended to provide relevant information to assist employees in responsible decision making, to enable them to exercise professionalism and ethical judgement in an effort to protect themselves from potential conflicts and to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
