CU Boulder encourages innovation, research, and scholarship that lead to commercial and consulting activities and global engagement. Such activities, however, have the potential to create actual or perceived conflicts of interest and commitment.


All faculty and any other employee (regardless of job title) or student responsible for the purpose, design, conduct or reporting of research on campus are required to disclose significant financial and personal interests and external professional activities. These includes ties to external entities, consulting and outside work and foreign activities

Requiring disclosure, vetting potential conflicts, and managing them through formal procedures helps to protect you, your department and the University. 

  • Your disclosure demonstrates your commitment to research integrity. Our reputation for research excellence rests on confidence that research is done without bias due to personal financial interest in the outcome.
  • Disclosure helps maintain public trust. Reporting financial and other personal interests creates transparency and helps us manage potential conflicts before they become a problem. It also helps address concerns that professional decisions and actions be made without the undue influence of personal benefit.
  • Your action helps us meet the requirements of federal grant sponsors. CU Boulder is obligated to have a robust conflict of interest policy, the centerpiece of which is annual disclosure of researchers’ external activities and interests.

Disclosure of External Professional Activities (DEPA) Form