A conflict of interest occurs when your personal interests and your professional obligations are different. To determine if you have a conflict of interest, ask yourself if an independent observer would question whether financial or personal gain has influenced your duties or professional judgment, or if they influenced how you presented scientific evidence, publications, testimony or presentations.
A financial interest is when you have something of monetary value given to you by a for-profit individual or industry. This includes:
- Compensation (salary, bonuses, income, honoraria, etc.)
- Equity interests (stocks, stock options, convertible security, etc.)
- Revenue or royalties from Intellectual Property (IP) rights
An external interest is an outside relationship or activity, not related to PHSA, such as board membership, directorship, ownership, etc.
You can have financial or external interests that are not in conflict with your role or responsibilities at PHSA. However, you would have a conflict of interest if you (or a person related to you) has a financial or external interest with an individual/industry that:
- PHSA has a business relationship with,
- Contradicts the values or mission of PHSA's academic health sciences mandate,
- Relates to your area of research, or
- Is connected to your PHSA role (procurement, HR decisions, etc.).
You should disclose any financial or non-PHSA external interests that pose a real, perceived, or potential conflict of interest. You do not need to disclose financial or external interests that do not pose a conflict, nor equity interests that are held through publicly-traded mutual funds, pensions, nor other institutional investment funds over which you have no control.
