Managing Conflicts of Interest

SSHRC recognizes that real, perceived or potential conflicts of interest can and do arise in the adjudication of grant, scholarship and fellowship applications. SSHRC's position is that these situations must be managed in an open and transparent manner in order to maintain the community's confidence and trust, and to ensure accountability.

While SSHRC cannot anticipate all potential conflict of interest situations, SSHRC staff make every effort to avoid any conflicts of interest before assigning applications to committee members for review.

Committee members are responsible for identifying and declaring any conflict of interest, real or perceived, related to an application, and for informing SSHRC staff immediately of the conflict. It is the role of the program officer to advise the committee in cases where conflict of interest appears ambiguous.

In adjudication meetings or teleconferences, a member in a real or perceived conflict of interest must withdraw from the room or conference call during the committee's discussion of the application in question. In cases where the chair of a committee withdraws because of a conflict of interest, the committee will designate an alternate chair for its review of the particular file(s).

The following list of possible conflict of interest situations is intended as a guide in determining whether or not a member is in conflict:

For Applications From Individuals or Informal Teams

A committee member is considered to be in a conflict of interest if the application involves:

• a friend;
• a relative;
• a research collaborator;
• an institutional colleague;
• a former thesis supervisor or mentor;
• a student previously under the member's supervision;
• a person with whom the member is involved in a dispute; or
• a person with whom the member is involved in a partnership.

For Applications From Institutions or Formal Partnerships

The above-noted conflict of interest situations are all applicable to committee members considering applications from institutions or formal partnerships. However, for the purposes of these types of applications, a conflict with an institutional colleague and/or participating organization/institution is determined as follows:

• If the committee member’s primary affiliation is the same as that of the applicant / project director and/or a co-applicant participating in the application, he or she is considered to be in a conflict of interest.
• If the committee member’s primary affiliation is the same as that of a collaborator participating in the application, the committee member will be considered to be in a conflict of interest only if he or she interacts with the collaborator in the course of his or her duties at the department, institution, organization or company.
• If the committee member’s primary affiliation is with a partnering organization in the application, a conflict of interest will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending, in part, on the role and level of involvement of the committee member with the partnering organization.
• If the committee member’s primary affiliation is with the administering organization for the application, he or she is considered to be in a conflict of interest.