Part four of our five-part series covering strategies to accelerate growth and break down organizational silos in research administration. Read part three here.
Against a constantly evolving backdrop of changing regulations, ensuring compliance and effectively managing conflicts of interest (COI) has never been more critical to research administrators. With the increase in workload, institutions are realizing the need for streamlined digital processes to help navigate the complex dynamics of research compliance.
At Cayuse, we aim to empower organizations to conduct globally connected research, advancing their impact on science, discovery, and society. To this end, we recently held the fourth webinar in the Accelerated Growth Series. Cayuse’s Director of Solutions Consulting, Stef Friesen, and Senior Solutions Consultant Darlene Nawrocki leveraged their extensive experience in pre- and post-award and compliance to shed light on how to handle conflicts of interest effectively within the research lifecycle.
The objectives of this webinar included:
- Understanding the current challenges in managing conflicts of interest
- Discussing new and ongoing regulatory mandates required of institutions involving federally funded research
- Discovering how technology can help standardize the COI process and create efficiencies/collaboration across departments
Understanding the challenges in COI management
The research sector is experiencing a significant increase in workload, as our 2023 Benchmark Report confirms. Over 1,400 participants across 640 organizations shared that they have experienced an increased workload, with 52% saying the surge was sizable.
Despite progressive moves toward digitization, nearly half of the industry still relies on manual or homegrown processes, underscoring the vital need for a more integrated approach.
Institutions face myriad challenges in managing conflict of interest disclosures, including:
- Inconsistent disclosure processes
- Difficulty in promptly identifying and adapting to regulatory changes
- Lack of clarity around who should disclose and then
- Communication barriers between grants and compliance teams
Regulatory changes putting pressure on compliance
Recent regulations have also impacted workload—most notably NSPM-33, “a directive from the President requiring all federal research funding agencies to strengthen and standardize disclosure requirements for federally funded awards.” NSPM-33 mandates stringent scrutiny on international collaborations to prevent foreign entities from exploiting US-funded research, necessitating increased COI standardization and consistency.
Other new and anticipated regulatory changes include CHIPS and ORCID identification requirements, USDA/APHIS, and the APHIS Contingency Planning Rule. While some of these updates aim to reduce the administrative burden for research administrators, others (such as NSPM-33) have increased the workload.
Addressing these changes requires organizations to foster centralized training, increased automation, streamlined workflows, and the dismantling of silos between different pre- and post-award and compliance teams.
Enabling seamless collaboration between pre/post-award and compliance
A well-functioning research administration department should foster transparency and open communication between teams, facilitating efficient identification and management of COIs. Where the pre/post-award team is focused on researcher relationships with funders and establishing management plans before allowing spending (where needed), compliance looks for updated researcher training, facilitation of management plans, and who should review disclosures (legal team, department heads, etc.).
Successful collaboration between pre/post-award and compliance teams looks like:
- Visibility in disclosure status where needed (maintaining confidentiality)
- Sharing information without overstepping roles and responsibilities
- Transparency for researchers using consistent, unambiguous processes
How Cayuse helps foster efficiency, eliminate silos, and save time
Technology like Cayuse’s research administration platform can make new levels of efficiency and time savings accessible to research administrators.
In this webinar, we explored the features of Cayuse’s Outside Interests application, designed to streamline every aspect of COI management:
- Dynamic Investigator Profiles: Centralizes training records and offers in-app assistance for disclosees
- Effective Disclosure Process: Guided questions reduce time and confusion during completion and review toward resolution
- Flexible Review Workflow: Automates resolutions for negative disclosures, saving time and ensuring compliance
- Live Configuration, Automation, and Reporting: Automated reminders and live form changes with version control to mitigate compliance gaps when regulations change
- Grants Visibility into COI Status: Sponsored Projects integration provides clear visibility into COI status and facilitates successful JIT grant submissions
Empowering researchers with in-app guidance
Cayuse centralizes training and offers in-app assistance, facilitating a smooth disclosure process and saving time for compliance and grants staff. Using features like ‘Show Me How To’ walkthroughs and automated notifications, researchers can navigate each step of the disclosure process with ease.
Researcher profiles can update directly from your institution’s HR data, so researchers don’t have to re-enter information each time. This integration also helps record and manage researcher activities, relationships, and roles, storing additional data like completed trainings and certifications in their profile.
Enhancing disclosure and review processes
In Cayuse, COI disclosures can be triggered automatically by research projects from sponsored projects or through an annual campaign. Version control is no longer a concern, as the most current version of the form is distributed during each campaign period. Cayuse Outside Interests not only standardizes the disclosure process but also conducts data validation checks.
Cayuse also simplifies reviews by allowing for auto-approval/resolution if no COI is determined, thereby avoiding unnecessary manual checks.
Transparency through reporting
Cayuse Outside Interests also brings transparency to the forefront through reporting, enabling users to view disclosure statuses at any point and providing a glimpse into grants activity. This gives pre- and post-award visibility into COI disclosures, visualized directly within the Sponsored Projects application, and eliminates the need to chase updates manually.
