The system
The Declaration of Interests (DoI) System has two parts:
- An online form for people to record their interests in different categories
- A Review and Manage app for reviewers that allows each interest to be reviewed and a mitigation recorded.
Together they form a complete historical record of what interests were declared, how they were mitigated and when this happened.
The process
1. Declaration
Heads of Institutions, plus members and regular attendees of the University’s principal, central decision-making bodies, are required to declare any personal, financial or other interests (and/or those of their close personal contacts) which constitute existing or potential conflicts with their University duties annually via the online declaration of interests (DoI) form. Declarations from the previous academic year are carried forward, so declarers just need to make any necessary amendments or additions to bring their record up-to-date.
2. Mitigation
Once all the declarers have completed the DoI form, their declarations are turned into a workflow that creates items to be reviewed and mitigations recorded by the appropriate reviewer(s) (for example, the Chair of the relevant committee or the Head of the relevant School, or their nominated delegate). The items are made available for review in the 'Review and Manage' app.
3. Confirmation
When all the mitigations have been completed, a summary document (PDF) of their declared interests and the associated mitigating actions is sent to each declarer for information.
4. Updates
The process is repeated annually, but new or amended interests that occur during the year are addressed as they arise by the same process.