Collaborations Roadmap

There are various approaches including: CAP Profiles

CAP Profiles - You can search for Stanford employees and students using a variety of keywords.
 It is also important that every individual keeps their own CAP profile complete and up-to-date and open CAP Profiles

Stanford You - StanfordYou is a web application that allows Stanford community members to update their contact information and SUNet accounts, including their password, vacation auto reply, profile, and privacy settings. Keeping your information up to Stanford You date will ensure other faculty can find you using keywords.

Faculty Collaborations Database
 - This database contains all current collaborations that have been established within the Department of Emergency Medicine. Before determining whether you should start a new collaboration, we recommend you search for keywords within the database to ensure the same type of collaboration does not already exist.

If you are devoting more than one day per week averaged over a year, then your consulting practice needs approval. These links outline the policy for EM faculty (both UML and CE faculty):

Faculty Guidelines on Conflict of Commitment and Interest (Stanford University)

Conflicts of Interest and Commitment (SoM Faculty Handbook)

Consulting and Other Outside Professional Activities

If the collaboration is on a volunteer basis only, there are no specific additional steps you need to take. However, please make it clear to the organization you plan to volunteer with that you are representing yourself only and not the department.

Collaborations

If consulting moves to a more “formal” relationship beyond a consulting role (e.g. it includes financial incentives, contracts, etc.), additional steps should be taken.

Benefits of establishing a collaboration vs. consulting:

-Sought by partner

-Malpractice Coverage

-Support from the department

Individual Consulting Activities

More detailed information can be found in the Research Policy Handbook 4.3.

Faculty are allowed to enter into consulting activities and other professional activities. Consulting activities for faculty are limited to 13 days per quarter or 52 days for 4-quarters for outside consulting.

In general, consulting is defined as professional activity related to the person's field or discipline, where a fee-for-service or equivalent relationship with a third party exists. These activities are provided outside of a faculty member’s Stanford responsibilities and do not require the use of Stanford resources, space, staff, or students.

Consulting agreements are between the individual faculty member and the outside entity. Stanford does not provide oversight or legal advice for these agreements. It is the responsibility of the faculty member to seek legal advice on the agreement if needed.

NOTE: Faculty entering into a consulting or non-disclosure agreement with a commercial entity must provide to that entity a copy of the summary of "Stanford University Requirements for Faculty Consulting Activities and Agreements".

Some collaborations have research potential. If you’re unsure if your project qualifies, the Department of Emergency Medicine Research Team can assist you with any specific research-related questions that arise. See research team contacts and information.

If your collaboration has research potential, connect to the Research Team via the Project & Research Intake Form, by selecting “collaboration opportunity” or other related intake reason, to elicit their review and outreach to support your research.

To learn more about the types of research and non-research agreements that exist, please refer to this list created by Stanford DoResearch.

The Industrial Contracts Office handles investigator-initiated collaboration agreements. All ICO requests are now made through the Research Related Agreement mechanism in SeRA.

Collaborations with Individual Researchers

These types of collaborations do not usually require an agreement. Individual collaborations are usually formed to develop common research interests and preliminary data with the goal of submitting a proposal to an external sponsor for funding.

Industrial Collaboration Agreements

More information can be found in the Research Policy Handbook 13.3.

Companies and universities are increasingly requiring documentation of inter-institutional research partnerships. Formal agreements in these cases will help to avoid misunderstandings and disputes over ownership of results. Collaboration contracts should be sent with a fully endorsed Proposal Routing and Development Form to the Industrial Contracts Office within the Office of Technology Licensing. Stanford has its own standard collaboration agreement that may be used as well.

Memoranda of Understanding and Letters of Intent

Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) or Letters of Intent (LOIs) are sometimes requested by external parties as a way to establish a relationship with Stanford faculty, groups of faculty, or programs. MOUs/LOIs are seldom necessary and should be avoided not only because initial discussions can proceed without such document, but also because the preparation and review of MOUs/LOIs is time consuming and slows momentum.

Instead, the parties should conduct preliminary discussions with the goal of developing the necessary formal agreement, such as agreements for sponsored research, research collaborations, gifts, or student exchanges.

If you have any questions about MOUs/LOIs, please reach out to the Department of Emergency Medicine’s Finance team.

Learn about the different types of agreements at DoResearch.

Service Agreements

More detailed information on service agreements can be found in the Research Policy Handbook 13.7.

Stanford faculty may perform or oversee fee-for-service projects under a Service Agreement, in which the services of Stanford personnel, facilities, or equipment are employed by parties not affiliated with the University. These services are conducted by Stanford personnel under the direction of a member of the academic council or medical center line faculty. The services are procured by an outside entity for the delivery of specific activities or products with specific desired outcomes. In many cases, the buyer is the sole beneficiary of the work being performed, may own the work product, and may require restriction of dissemination or publication of the results. Stanford personnel execute the work at the buyer’s direction, even if the work being conducted is based on Stanford expertise, processes, or models.

Most service agreements Stanford participates in are conducted for public benefit, and the scope of work being conducted aligns with the public service and community outreach missions of Stanford and the organization receiving the service. Fee-for-service arrangements that do not align with public service or community outreach can be done only on a non-routine basis and only with approval of the Department Chair and cognizant School Dean’s Office.

Service agreements should constitute only an incidental amount of the total activity of a Stanford resource or lab at any given time, for a period of two years or less. Students and postdoctoral trainees must not be involved in providing the services.

The cost to the buyer must include the full costs of the service, including the university’s applicable non-sponsored receivables rate (currently 57.4%).

Service Agreements are processed through the Research Management Group in partnership with the Office of General Counsel.

For more information or further questions, please contact Nico Mendoza, RMG Deputy Director

Working with Industry Contracts Office for Collaboration Agreements

Please click here for more information on collaboration agreements.

Collaborations between Stanford faculty and company researchers allow scientists with common interests to pursue common research objectives. Collaboration Agreements are used when each party performs research essential to the project. Each party to the agreement funds its own costs.

ICO’s industry Collaboration Agreement addresses:

The research obligations of each party.

Disclosure of confidential information, if any.

Ownership of inventions based on inventorship. No licenses or license options are offered to the other party.

Authorship of publications based on academic standards.

Stanford faculty who want to collaborate with a company are asked to fill out an ICO Intake Form, providing information about the project and participants.

For a template Collaboration Agreement, please contact ico@stanford.edu

The Industrial Contracts Office (ICO) is a unit within the Office of Technology Licensing, Stanford’s technology transfer office. ICO is responsible for reviewing, negotiating and signing research-related agreements on behalf of Stanford with industry and some non-profit collaborators. ICO Contract Officers have authority to sign agreements on behalf of Stanford University and ensure that all agreements are in compliance with Stanford policy, sound business practice, and legal requirements. Visit the ICO Website to learn more. The ICO has created a decision tool to help you figure out which office is responsible for handling your agreement.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

Stanford’s DoResearch website.

Conflicts of Interest

Contact Stephanie Edelman or Justine Murphey and they will refer you to the proper legal contact.

If your collaboration requires hiring staff, you need prior approval from Yvette Caro in Human Resources. Before taking this step, please reach out to Justine Murphey or Christine Hendricks.

ALL expenses using Stanford University money (faculty CME accounts, Gifts, Sponsored Projects, etc.) must have University approval. That is different from Department approval. To ensure an expense receives University approval, please check with Stephanie Edelman, Justine Murphey or Kelley Hawkins to address any questions on non-regular goods or services you want to purchase. Anything over $50,000 requires pre-approval from Stephanie Edelman.

Please reach out to Kelley Hawkins to learn more about the approval process.

All university travel must be booked through Stanford Travel. To learn more about the Stanford Travel Program, please visit the Fingate Stanford travel page. Please take note of Stanford travel guidelines. For specific questions about travel related to your collaboration, please contact Kelley Hawkins. Stanford travel guidelines

Stanford University strictly enforces policies regarding branding, co-branding, and product or service endorsements. These regulations apply to both informal consulting and formal collaboration or partnership agreements.

Before planning or agreeing to any use of Stanford branding, including logos, iconography, and name use; and before providing any testimonials or endorsements for partners, please contact Sue Coppa.

Please visit the Emergency Medicine Department’s Brand Toolkit to access branded content.