Glossary

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COI Glossary
Design, Conduct, Reporting of Research Oversight, decision-making, or participation in research that includes creating the structure, roles, and/or protocol of a research project; participating in the execution of the research roles and protocol; participating in the publication, presentation, or discussion of the research results.
Direct Administration of Research Oversight or decision-making impacting research, such as selection of vendors, determining the allocation of funds, negotiating budgets, deliverables, or other terms with sponsors, protocol review and approval, or managing resulting intellectual property.
External Entity Any non-federal entity other than the university or its components.
Family
Project Personnel’s spouse, domestic partner, dependent children, and any persons residing in their household.
Financial Conflict of Interest (fCOI)
Exists when the university reasonably determines, pursuant to this policy, that an individual’s Significant Financial Interest is related to a University Research or Sponsored Program and could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, or reporting of the research or sponsored programs. 
An effort organized, managed, or funded by a foreign government, or foreign government instrumentality or entity, that is intended to recruit science and technology professionals or students (regardless of citizenship or national origin, and whether having a full-time or part-time position). For purposes of this definition, support includes cash, research funding provided other than through Lehigh University, complimentary foreign travel, honorific titles, career advancement opportunities, promised future compensation, or other types of remuneration or consideration, including in-kind compensation.    
Project Personnel University personnel responsible for the design, conduct, reporting, or direct administration of University Research and Sponsored Programs.
Public Health Service (PHS) Agencies http://thefdp.org/default/fcoi-clearinghouse/fcoi-agencies/
Related
The planning, conduct, reporting, or administration of the Sponsored Program or University Research could affect the monetary value of a financial interest, have a financial impact on the External Entity, or affect the Project Personnel or their Family’s ability to fulfill their obligations to the External Entity.
Senior and Key Personnel
The Project Director/Principal Investigator and any other person identified as Senior or Key Personnel by the institution in a grant application, project report, or any other report submitted to the sponsor, as well as any person identified by the sponsor as specifically stated in award documents. Senior and Key Personnel further include those identified on Public Health Service (PHS) awards or cooperative agreements issued on or after August 24, 2012, when travel is paid or reimbursed.
Significant Financial Interest (SFI) Include the following:
  • For a domestic or foreign publicly traded external entity, an SFI exists if the sum of (a) the total value of any remuneration received by the Project Personnel and their family from the external entity in the twelve months preceding the disclosure or anticipated in the twelve months following the disclosure and (b) the value of any equity interest in the external entity as of the date of disclosure exceeds $5,000. Remuneration includes salary and any payment for services not otherwise identified as salary (e.g., consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship). Paid equity interest includes any stock, stock option, or other ownership interest, as determined through reference to public prices or other reasonable measures of fair market value.
  • For a domestic or foreign non-publicly traded external entity, an SFI exists if the value of any remuneration received by the Project Personnel and their family from the external entity in the twelve months preceding the disclosure or anticipated in the twelve months following the disclosure either, (a) exceeds $5,000, or (b) when the Project Personnel and/or their family holds any equity interest (e.g., stock, stock option, or other ownership interest) regardless of its value.
  • Project Personnel and/or their Family received income in the twelve months preceding the disclosure or anticipates receiving income in the twelve months following the disclosure related to intellectual property rights and interests (e.g., patents, patent applications, copyrights).    
  • Project Personnel (and not their family) held a management position, such as a director, officer, partner, president, vice-president, or trustee, in any external entity in the twelve months preceding the disclosure, or anticipates holding a management position in the twelve months following the disclosure.
  • Project Personnel participated in, or receives support from, a Foreign Talent Recruitment Program, in the twelve months preceding the disclosure or anticipates doing so in the twelve months following the disclosure.
  • For PHS and Department of Energy (DOE) funded personnel only: any travel that is reimbursed, paid, or otherwise sponsored on the Project Personnel’s (and not their Family’s) behalf, related to the individual’s Lehigh responsibilities that is not otherwise disclosed in current and pending or other support disclosures.
    • This excludes any travel that is reimbursed or sponsored by Lehigh University; a U.S. federal, state, or local government agency; a U.S. non-profit institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a), an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with an institution of higher education in the U.S.   
Significant Financial Interests (SFI) do not include the following:
  • Salaries, royalties, or other remuneration paid by Lehigh to an individual, including intellectual property rights assigned to the institution and agreements to share in royalties related to such rights.
  • Income from investment vehicles, such as mutual funds and retirement accounts, as long as the individual does not directly control the investment decisions made in these vehicles.
  • Income from seminars, lectures, or teaching engagements sponsored by, or income from service on advisory committees or review panels for a U.S. federal, state, or local government agency; a non-profit U.S. institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a); an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with a non-profit U.S. institution of higher education as defined at 20 U.S.C. 1001(a).
  • Programs funded by a sponsor through a grant, contract, or agreement with the university, including but not limited to research, education, testing, outreach, etc.; and
  • Programs funded through Lehigh University’s internal grant programs administered through the office of the Vice President and Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Studies, herein referred to as “VPR”.
University Research Any research activity supported by university funds regardless of source.