Declaring a Conflict of Interest

This article is for Assessors who need to declare whether they have a Conflict of Interest before assessing an Application.

Some Assessment Rounds require you to declare whether you have a Conflict of Interest (COI) before you can access and assess an Application — for example, if you know the Applicant personally or have another connection that could affect your impartiality.

Declaring a Conflict of Interest isn't just informational — it blocks you from completing that Assessment until an Admin reviews and revokes it. If you're not sure whether something counts as a conflict, declare it and let your Grant Administrator make the call.

You'll be directed to the Conflict of Interest page as part of opening an assigned Application. Review the Application fields shown, then declare whether there is a conflict.

If you have a conflict of interest

1

Select that you do, and disclose the reason. Be descriptive — this information will be sent to the Grant Administrator, who needs enough detail to decide whether to revoke it.

2

Click Next, then Submit Conflict of Interest.

After you submit, the Grant Administrator reviews your declaration. If they decide it's appropriate for you to assess the Application anyway, they'll revoke the COI and you'll regain access to the same Application — it isn't reassigned to someone else.

You'll be notified once your COI is cleared, but you won't see the Administrator's reasoning for revoking it — that note is for their own records. If you'd like to know why, ask your Grant Administrator directly.

• On your Dashboard under Notifications, look out to see if a COI has been revoked.

• Alternatively, under My Assessments, look for Applications with the status "Conflict Revoked," then click Assess.

If you don't have a conflict of interest

Select that you don't have a conflict, and proceed to Completing an Assessment.

If your Conflict of Interest is never revoked

If an Admin doesn't act on your declared COI, the Assessment stays blocked indefinitely — there's no automatic reminder or reassignment on the Assessor side. If you're waiting on a decision, it's worth following up with your Grant Administrator directly.

Related articles

• Deciding Whether to Assess

• Completing an Assessment

• Understanding Your Dashboard