• Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 025 - Conflict of Commitment and Outside Activities for Faculty Members

Please note, outside professional activities, as outlined in the category definitions in APM 025, include both domestic and foreign activities. As there has been increased scrutiny from the federal government regarding the appropriate disclosure of foreign engagements, it is critical that you report both your domestic and foreign engagements while completing the OATS forms. Such engagements include, but are not limited to, visiting professorial or research appointments and directorship of labs or programs, whether compensated or not. Please refer to the definitions of Category I and II activities in APM-025 for reference on the academic and professional activities that must be disclosed. 

• Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 671 - Conflict of Commitment and Outside Activities for Health Sciences Compensation Plan Participants
• Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 240 - Deans
• Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 246 - Full Time (100%) Faculty Administrators

Effective January 1, 2024, Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 025 and Section 671, the key policies from which UC OATS is derived, have been revised as follows:

• The revised policies preserve the distinction between activities that are related and unrelated to the training and expertise that are the qualifications for University appointment.

 Clarifying that current or pending acceptance of an honorary, visiting, adjunct, or other institutional appointment (either compensated or uncompensated) at an outside institution is a Category I activity.

•  Current policies already classify employment outside the University as a Category I activity. The revised policies provide clarification that current or pending acceptance of an honorary, visiting, adjunct, or other institutional appointment (either compensated or uncompensated) at an institution of higher education, research institute, or medical center affiliated with an outside institution of higher education, non-U.S. government, or other outside entity is a Category I activity.

 Clarifying that participation in or application to talent recruitment programs sponsored by a government agency of a nation other than the United States is a Category I activity.

•  This requirement already exists in current policies but is not clearly articulated. The revised policies make explicit the requirement that faculty members seek prior approval for application to or participation in talent recruitment programs specifically designed to recruit science and technology professionals or students.

Expanding the definition of Compensation to include in-kind contributions.

•  The revised policies articulate that in-kind contributions, such as office/laboratory space, equipment supplies, or employees or students supported by an outside source constitute compensation for outside professional activities. If the time commitment or dollar value is not readily ascertainable, reasonable estimates should be provided. Compensation does not include training awards, prizes, or gifts. Gifts are resources provided where there is no expectation of anything (e.g., time, services, specific research activities, money, etc.) in return. An item or service given with the expectation of an associated time commitment is not a gift and is instead compensation and must be reported as such. This is an existing reporting obligation required by federal funding agencies.

For faculty and Designated Other Academic Appointees, requiring compliance with federal funding agency laws and policies governing grant disclosures if participating in a federally funded research project and if deemed required to disclose per funding agency policy, grant terms & conditions, and/or federal law.

• Reporting requirements from federal funding agency laws and policies currently include reporting on conflicts of commitment and affiliations including, but not limited to, participation in non-U.S. talent recruitment programs and acceptance of visiting and honorary appointments at outside institutions of higher education and research.

Removing Appendices B, C, and D.

•  The revised policies delete Appendices B, C, and D, as all campuses currently use the UC Outside Activities Tracking System (UC OATS) for APM - 025 and APM - 671 prior approval and annual reporting processes.

The revised Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 025 and Section 671 and accompanying issuance letter can be viewed by clicking the links below:

• UC Office of the President Policy Revision Issuance Letter
• Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 025
• Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 671 

Academic Personnel Services

The Office of Academic Personnel Services (APS) serves as the central academic personnel office for the entirety of UC San Diego. 

Under the leadership of the Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel, APS performs and provides a wide range of academic personnel related functions and services to the UC San Diego General Campus, Institution of Oceanography, and UC San Diego Health Sciences.

Academic Personnel Services website.

Office of Research and Innovation 

Research Affairs supports the campus's ambitious research goals with high-quality expertise and services. It is comprised of support, compliance and academic research. This includes everything from managing contracts and grants to facilitating government relations and international outreach; from spurring innovation and commercialization to supporting postdoctoral scholars.

Office of Research and Innovation website.

Conflict of Interest

Research Compliance and Integrity

UC San Diego is committed to the highest ethical and legal standards in the conduct of research. The Office of Research Compliance and Integrity facilitates research, innovation and education, responsibly for global excellence and is responsible for broad oversight, resources and education for the integrity and compliance issues relating to the conduct of research.  It is the responsibility of all members of the UC San Diego research community to be familiar with University policies related to the conduct of research. 

Research Compliance and Integrity website.

Sponsored Projects

The Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) serves the UC San Diego Research Community with high-quality expertise in support of sponsored research administration, including proposal and (non-financial) award management, client experience and training services, system designs, business process improvement, and research enterprise contracts and grant business intelligence. 

Sponsored Projects website.

Export Control

Approval Forms & Routing

UC OATS collects information about outside professional activities and generates prior approval forms, as appropriate. Prior approval forms are routed through a defined review and approval workflow.

System Roles

UC OATS is a role-based system. System roles include faculty (general campus faculty, health science faculty, deans, full-time faculty administrators), reviewers, approvers, auditors, and system administrators.

Report & Track Effort/Earnings

UC OATS collects information about outside professional activities and generates prior approval forms, as appropriate. Prior approval forms are routed through a defined review and approval workflow.

Annual Certification

In UC OATS, faculty certify adherence to UCOP conflict of commitment policies in UC OATS. UC OATS generates an annual report of outside professional activities based on the collected information.

Reports

Reports are available for various compliance issues in real-time (e.g., annual certification reports, faculty exceeding time and/or earnings thresholds, involvement of students in OPA, etc.).

Faculty Education

UC OATS contains embedded educational components to facilitate faculty understanding of the policies, their role and responsibilities, and accurate reporting. To learn more about UC OATS visit the Training knowledge base.

Health Science Compensation Plan (HSCP) Payments

Reviewers can document and track payments due to the HSCP plan. Payments reflect in both the reviewer's and faculty's workspace.

Archiving Approvals

UC OATS archives approvals and disclosures, allowing for historical (and multi-year) searches for approvals/disclosures.

Visit the UC OATS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) webpage to access a robust library of system related topics and information. 

Individuals covered under Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 671 - Health Sciences Conflict of Commitment and Outside Activities of Health Sciences Compensation Plan Participants, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for APM 671 can be accessed here. 

Download as a .pdf file with functional inks here: