Research Office Privacy Notice
Read on for the PPLS Research Office Privacy Notice. This will be relevant to anyone who has submitted personal data to the Research Office e.g. as part of a funding application.
The Research Office is part of the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences in the University of Edinburgh (the “University”). This privacy notice explains how we handle personal data.
The School of PPLS (“the School”) is committed to protecting your privacy and keeping you informed of how your information is used. We will only record your personal details in the manner and for the purposes set out in this privacy statement. Data will be kept secure from unauthorised access, use or disclosure. We will not sell, rent, trade or otherwise knowingly share or provide your personal information to any third party, except insofar as legally obliged to do so or as specified below.
What information do we collect?
Information we collect, store and process may include:
- In response to or as part of any contact with the School via electronic means we may request your contact information; such as your name, organisation, contact details, salary information
- Information required by funders in applications for awards, such as curriculum vitae
- Outcomes of funding applications
- Your responses to surveys which we ask you to complete for research purposes
- How you use our websites, unless you have opted out of cookie consent
- Any other information you post, email or otherwise send to us
How do we use this information?
The School will process the personal data of academics, researchers, students, graduates, visitors, staff and other stakeholders in order to deliver and improve the opportunities and services we provide in a personalised manner, to ensure each individual receives relevant information and to meet our statutory, contractual and legitimate business requirements in the most efficient and effective way.
The PPLS Research Office collects and processes personal data from and on behalf of the University’s research community:
- to apply for grants and other funding opportunities, including studentships;
- to help us provide expert advice and guidance;
- for research and strategic planning;
- to enter into research agreements;
- to communicate news and information of interest to researchers; and
- to organise events.
We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes. A human decision maker will always be involved before any decision is reached in relation to you.
Information about you will only be used:
- If you have provided us with your consent
- If processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take the steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract
- If it is in the legitimate interest of the School to process information about you as you are part of the University of Edinburgh community. In order to stay in touch with you and keep you informed of our events, news and services we are using dotdigital as our mailing system
- For Human Resource recruitment and selection purposes
- To facilitate online bookings for our events we use a third party service Eventbrite –
Eventbrite privacy policy is viewable here.
With your consent we may:
- Keep you up to date via electronic, postal and telephone communications with news, events, activities, programmes, services, funding and progress of interest to you with regards to the School
- Process information about you to administer your event attendance at the School. After which we may send you presentations, surveys and request feedback
To meet our contractual obligations to you we will:
- Process contracts for research agreements, funding award applications, placements, licensing agreements and research programme activity
- Track financial information for reporting
- Process recipients of grants, funding and awards won for audit purposes
- Capture external, past and current researcher and academic publications and research outcomes
On the basis of our legitimate business interests to you we will:
- Supply you with the products, services and information that you request from us and to allow us to respond to your enquiry accordingly
- Analyse the information we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our websites, documentation, teaching and research, room bookings, events and to ensure continuous improvement of all of our services
- Inform stakeholders of opportunities that may be of interest to them
- Monitor the progress of the School and its stakeholders and inform them of appropriate opportunities and services
- Notify you about changes to our services
- Send you University and School information if you are a professional contact
Cookies and website privacy
For more information on our use of cookies and details of how the University of Edinburgh is committed to preserving your privacy, please visit the University of Edinburgh Privacy and Cookie Policy information webpages.
How long will we keep your personal data?
Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we’ll only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and, in some cases, so we can comply with our legitimate and contractual obligations.
Storage and transmission of your information
Once we have received your information, we employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage.
Transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to the website or via email. Any transmission is at your own risk.
Passwords and credentials
Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of the website or information systems and services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.
Information disclosure
Authorised personnel within the School will be able to access the information you provide to us. Unless required to do so by law, we will not share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent. To comply with statutory requirements, we are required to share your personal information with external agencies, particularly for the purposes of detection or prevention of crime or fraud. We may also disclose your personal information to the University of Edinburgh or any other subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh, for the purposes disclosed in this privacy statement.
Who we share data with
Information that you share with us may be processed by the following 3rd Parties, you will be informed if this applies to your data:
- Other departments and services within the University of Edinburgh
- Our international payments provider Santander for non-staff transfers
- Co-hosts of events and conferences
- Research funding bodies
Additional privacy statements
The University maintains several other privacy statements that are specific to services delivered.
Access, update, unsubscribe or have your information deleted
You have the right to ask for a copy of the information held by us in our records. If you would like a copy of this information, please contact us using the details below. We want to make sure that your information is accurate and up to date. You may also ask us to correct or remove any information you think is inaccurate.
The School will provide you with a copy of all information maintained about you upon written request to:
Data Protection Officer
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
3 Charles Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9AJ
Scotland, UK
Or by email to ppls.schooloperations@ed.ac.uk
We will correct any inaccuracies in such information as soon as practicable after being notified in writing. Any user may also require that this information be removed from our records by writing, emailing or unsubscribing.
Contact
For further information about data privacy in PPLS Research Office, please contact Giulia Giganti Giulia.Giganti@ed.ac.uk.
Continued privacy notice
This is the second, generic half of every University privacy notice. General information for individuals the University of Edinburgh collects, shares or processes personal information about.
University of Edinburgh – Continued privacy notice
Changes to the privacy policy
We keep this privacy policy under regular review and may amend this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on the website. This privacy notice was last updated on the 8th July 2021.