International Collaboration
The U.S. Government remains concerned about inappropriate influence by foreign entities
over federally funded research. A primary focus of this concern is ensuring that
federally funded researchers at U.S. institutions disclose their relationships with
foreign organizations which could conflict with the interests of federal funding agencies.
The University of South Carolina strongly supports and values its international collaborations.
This is exemplified both by bringing international scholars to campus and encouraging
our scholars to collaborate internationally, thereby enriching the student experience
and bringing diverse knowledge and experiences to our academic community. While recognizing
the value of international collaboration, our faculty and investigators must be transparent
about their involvement with foreign entities.
The recent message from the funding agencies is clear: investigators and their universities must disclose completely all foreign activities
to their federal funding sponsors.
USC Policy
USC requires that all faculty and investigators disclose outside activities related
to their professional expertise, whether domestic or foreign, via the USC outside
activity disclosure process. Faculty must receive prior approval before engaging
in outside professional activities and report those activities no less than annually.
ACAF 1.50 Outside Professional Activities
RSCH 1.06 Disclosure of Financial Interests
Federal Agency Response
The reporting and disclosure requirements imposed by federal funding agencies go beyond
what is required by the university with extra emphasis placed on foreign sources of
support and how those sources are used to support the proposed and/or related research.
USC researchers who are applying for and receiving federal funding need to be aware
of these requirements and how each federal agency defines foreign sources of support.
While many of these requirements have been in place for some time, they are being
reinterpreted and more heavily emphasized than in the past.