A conflict of interest occurs when an individual's personal interests, relationships, or activities interfere, or appear to interfere, with their duties and responsibilities to the University. This can happen in arise in a number of situations, for example:
- Holding a financial interest in a company that does business with the University.
- Participating in decision-making processes that affect someone close to you such as a relative or partner
- Engaging in external activities that compete with the University's interests or use University resources without proper authorisation
If such a situation occurs, you are required to inform the University, and we will make a decision on how best to handle this. In most cases we can put arrangements in place to mitigate the conflict of interest, for example, having others involved in the decision-making. The policy and procedure below describes this in more detail.
If you do think that you could have a conflict of interest during your work for the University, do report this using the form at this link. When you submit the form, it will alert Human Resources who will discuss this with you and your manager or Head of Department to make a decision. When a decision is made, this will be held on your personal file as a record.
If you are in any doubt, after reading the policy, you can use the same form to seek advice.