COI Disclosure Profile

Endeavor COI Module

The Electronic Research Administration System "Endeavor" houses the COI Module for employees to submit their annual COI disclosures. You will receive a notification via e-mail when it is time for you to log in to the new system and complete your COI Disclosure Profile. 

The COI questionnaire is very similar to previous years. It will ask about your outside interests including equity interests, board positions, outside employment, consulting, paid travel, authored works used in the classroom, intellectual property, entities doing business with the institution, etc., as well as some general questions related to your interests in the entities disclosed. This is to ensure compliance with federal research regulations, state ethics laws, and university policy.

It will also ask about individuals you are related to at Auburn University, Auburn University at Montgomery, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. This is to ensure compliance with state nepotism laws and university policy.

Disclose any other interests that may have the appearance of influencing your university decisions and actions. Transparency is the first step in mitigating potential conflicts of interest.

Watch the How to Complete COI Disclosure Video
Faculty Preapprovals
The Endeavor ERA system allows submissions for PreApproval Requests (PAR) for faculty to engage in private consulting, outside professional services, and other appointments. This replaced the Faculty Application for Permission to Engage in Private Consulting in Sharepoint back in Spring 2024.
Faculty Consulting Policy Guidance on Faculty Consulting
Training
Several trainings are available to become familiar with the new Endeavor COI disclosure system.
Enroll in CR501E Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment in ElevatED. Complete this self-paced e-learning module to become familiar with conflicts of interest and the Huron COI disclosure system. Log in to ElevatED in AU Access and complete whenever it's convenient for you.
Register for one of our live Zoom sessions RM104V as we walk through completing your COI Disclosure Profile and how to submit a faculty Preapproval request for consulting or appointments. Register for a session in ElevatED in AU Access.
Schedule a session with the Compliance Team to come to your next departmental meeting to share information about required disclosures and demo the Endeavor COI module to assist you and your colleagues in using the new system. Email coi@auburn.edu to request a visit.

FAQS

Access the Endeavor system at aub.ie/endeavor. Log in using Single Sign On (your Auburn username and password) to access the system.

All full-time employees must submit an annual COI disclosure. You will be notified when your profile is ready in the system and you can log in to make edits. Once you complete your Disclosure Profile, you will not need to complete your profile again for 365 days unless you have any new interests or relationships to report, which should be reported in the system by Editing your Disclosure Profile. 

You must disclose any and all of the following affiliations. Many of these are common scholarly activities that do not pose any conflict of interest. However, some affiliations may pose serious national security concerns which is the reason for this inquiry. All foreign interests and activities should be disclosed.
  • Agreements or contracts
  • Research collaborations (including publications)
  • Talent recruitment programs or Friendship Awards
  • Positions, scientific appointments, and/or honors (including dean, guest, honorary, adjunct, or volunteer, with or without support)
  • Laboratories or office space outside the U.S.
  • Equipment, supplies, or employees
  • Gifts provided with terms or conditions
  • Financial support for laboratory personnel
  • Participation of student and visiting researchers supported by other sources of funding
  • Resources made available in support of and/or related to all of your professional R&D efforts
  • Financial interests
  • Intellectual property
  • AU-hosted visiting scholars
  • Travel or site visits paid for by a foreign source
  • Program evaluations paid for by a foreign source
  • Teaching or training engagements
  • Consulting engagements
  • Advising or mentoring engagements
  • Speaking engagements
  • Committees or boards
  • Contracts with or payments to a business owned by you
  • Other professional affiliations

An equity interest consists of ownership interests/shares, stock or stock options in a business. If you own a business or are a shareholder, you have an equity interest. You do not need to disclose stocks that you own as part of a retirement account, mutual fund, or other investment account. You should disclose any ownership interest interest in a privately held company related to your institutional responsibilities or your research, and a 5% or greater ownership interest in a publicly traded company related to your institutional responsibilities or your research.

Provide an estimate to the best of your knowledge or enter at least “5000” if the amount is $5,000 or greater. The system totals the amounts for each entity to determine whether it is a significant financial interest (SFI). The threshold is 5,000 in accordance with federal regulations.

Outside employment includes side jobs, professional services, or any regular activity where you are providing goods or services for compensation. This could include skilled labor (lawn maintenance work, painting, woodworking, electric, plumbing, etc.), professional services (accounting, real estate, I.T., legal, teaching, advisory, event planning, fundraising, etc.), or otherwise working for another entity as an employee or independent contractor.

If you have a second job/moonlight (Walmart, Uber, restaurants, etc.) or a hobby job (selling goods such as make-up, jewelry, supplements, bakery, Etsy shop, etc.) it should only occur on nights, weekends, or holidays or take approved leave to avoid a conflict of commitment. Any performance issues due to conflicts of commitment should be addressed by supervisors.

Use the "%" symbol when you begin typing in the search box. This is a "wildcard" that will find any entity with that word in the name. For example, typing "%foundation" would find "National Science Foundation" and "Foundation of Science."


If you still do not find the entity you are looking for after a few wildcard keyword searches, you may add an entity by clicking the elipse (...) and typing the entity in manually.

Start typing the person's first name and last name in the text box and a list of people will populate. Select the correct one. Alternatively, click the elipse (...) and filter by last name, first name, organization, email, or user ID. Be sure to use their formal name; for example, John, instead of a middle name or nickname. 


If you do not find the individual you are looking for after a few searches, you may add an individual by clicking the elipse (...) and typing their name manually and identifying their organization (AU, AUM, ACES, AAES) and department (select from a prepopulated list - remember to use the % for wildcard searches; for example %math will find "Dept of Mathematics" at AUM and "Mathematics & Statistics" at AU.