Information and Data Privacy Statement &
Confidentiality Statement

Information and data privacy statement

The purpose of this information and privacy statement is to explain what information and data we collect, why we collect it, and how long we will retain it. Please consult our confidentiality statement (below) for information on how we handle the content of your project applications and the associated intellectual property.

The NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Hub and Specialist Centre for Public Health (SCPH) delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners complies fully with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Who are we?

The Research Support Service (RSS) is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). It is delivered by different Hubs. Our RSS Hub is a partnership between the University of Southampton, the University of Oxford, the University of Portsmouth, and Oxford Brookes University. The name of our Hub/partnership is: the NIHR Research Support Service Hub delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners (RSS USP). The RSS USP service is delivered by staff from across the partner organisations. The RSS as a whole is funded by and accountable to the NIHR, but RSS staff are governed by the policies and systems of their partner organisations. The RSS USP Hub also manages a Specialist Centre for Public Health (SCPH), which has access to our systems and data.

What is the Specialist Centre for Public Health?

The NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health (SCPH) is managed jointly by us (RSS USP) and by Newcastle University. When working as part of the SCPH, our RSS hub has a slightly longer name: NIHR RSS Hub and Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners (RSS USP Hub and SCPH).

Our SCPH is a partnership between the RSS USP Hub (and its partners listed above) and four local authorities: Southampton City Council, Portsmouth City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, and Hampshire County Council. If your request for support is processed by SCPH, we may share your data with SCPH partners and Newcastle University.

The RSS SCPH as a whole is funded by and accountable to the NIHR, but SCPH staff are governed by the policies and systems of their partner organisations.

Project development support

As a recipient of support from the RSS USP Hub and/or SCPH, we will collect and securely store biographical information (e.g. name, contact details, organisation) and research project information relating to your application in order to facilitate our advice-giving. We will retain that data until one year after the end of our successive RSS contracts. The RSS USP Hub and SCPH will take appropriate steps to ensure confidentiality of any information sent to us via our website, although we cannot accept any liability for the loss or disclosure of data sent to us in this way.

Project information will be shared annually, along with details pertaining to the project’s principal investigator, with the NIHR Co-ordinating Centre (NIHR CC) who evaluate the management and delivery of the RSS USP Hub and SCPH. All information will be held securely and treated in the strictest confidence by the RSS USP Hub and SCPH, NIHR CC and the NIHR. The NIHR privacy policy includes details of the information collected by NIHR, why it is collected, how long it will be retained and how the information will be used. It also explains how NIHR may use your data and contact details, and it gives details of your individual rights in relation to how your data are used.

We will keep a record of the final outcome of your application, which we will source from you directly or from publicly available databases.

Service evaluations and annual reports

From time to time the RSS USP Hub and/or SCPH will ask you to evaluate the service that you have received, whether it is project support or, for example, event attendance. We sometimes use third-party software to collect survey results.

The feedback we receive is used to improve our service and may be used in internal reports and reports to our funder.

NIHR CC may ask us to circulate their own evaluation survey to clients whom we have supported. Please consult the NIHR privacy policy for the handling of these data.

Mailing list subscriptions

If you’ve signed up to the RSS USP Hub and SCPH e-bulletin, then your name and email is stored in a MailChimp account which we use to distribute all of our e-bulletins and updates. MailChimp is fully GDPR compliant (see MailChimp’s privacy policy) and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of the e-bulletin. Neither the RSS USP Hub and SCPH nor MailChimp will share your details with a third party. Your data will be kept until one year after the end of successive RSS contracts, or until you unsubscribe.

Event bookings

By signing up to attend an RSS USP Hub or SCPH event, you consent to the collection and storage of your booking data. These data will be used to facilitate the administration of the event and the evaluation of our effectiveness in reaching and engaging with researchers.

The RSS USP Hub and SCPH uses third party platforms (e.g. Eventbrite) to manage its bookings.

Website data

The RSS USP Hub and SCPH has a website with information and resources for clients. It collects unique page views and time spent on the site. This information is used to improve the website. IP-address data is recorded within the web server for site maintenance, but we do not analyse these data.

Data retention

The RSS USP Hub and SCPH regularly review the data they hold and remove any that are no longer required. If your information/data has not been removed in a regular review, it will ultimately be removed from our records one year after the end of successive RSS contracts, unless the information relates to a financial transaction where we are obliged to retain it for up to seven years for auditing purposes.

Your rights

By law, you have certain rights over your personal information to:

• receive a copy of your information

• ask us to correct any errors

• delete it once we no longer need it

• ask us to stop using your information in a certain way

• ask for certain information in a portable, electronic format

• object to certain uses of your information (for example, marketing and automatic profiling or decision-making).

How to contact us

If you wish to contact the RSS USP Hub and/or SCPH to ensure that your contact details are correct and up-to-date, or to ask for your contact information to be removed from our records, our details are:

Address:

NIHR RSS Hub and Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners
Mail Point 805,
Level C, South Academic Block
Southampton General Hospital
SO16 6YD

Email: nihr-rss@soton.ac.uk

Complaints

If you have a complaint about the way the RSS USP Hub or SCPH processes your personal information, please contact us using the above details. In addition, you can make a complaint to the UK Information Commissioner online or by writing to the Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner, Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

If we decide to change our Privacy Statement, we will email clients and update this document. This will help ensure that you are always aware of what information and data we collect, how we use it, how long we retain it, and under what circumstances, if any, we share it with other parties.

RSS USP & SCPH Information and Data Privacy Statement & Confidentiality Statement, v1.0 Sept 2024

Confidentiality statement

This confidentiality statement provides you with information about how we deal with the intellectual property we are privy to whilst supporting the development of your application. Please consult the information and data privacy statement (above) for details of the information we collect and store about your project and how long we’ll retain it.

As a recipient of support from the RSS Hub and SCPH delivered by the University of Southampton and Partners, we will have sight of your application and be party to discussions regarding the direction, scope and intellectual property (IP) of your project.

All of the information you provide us will be treated in the strictest confidence and it will only be used to help us to give the best possible advice during the development of your application. Apart from RSS USP Hub and SCPH members of staff, we will only share your ideas and/or application, where appropriate, with our public contributors, for example, for the purposes of reviewing your project at one of our pre-submission review panels. Our public contributors have been trained by the RSS USP Hub and SCPH and have signed a confidentiality statement prior to taking up the role. Where appropriate and potentially useful for you, we may suggest people outside of the RSS USP Hub and SCPH to review your application, for example, if a mock interview would benefit from a specialist opinion. However, this will only be done with your prior, written consent.

Please note that the RSS USP Hub and SCPH will take appropriate steps to ensure confidentiality of any information sent to us via our website, although we cannot accept any liability for the loss or disclosure of data sent to us in this way.

Clients usually send further drafts and other details concerning their projects via email; advisors will also send project-related comments and annotated drafts to clients via email. If you require more security for the material being sent, please let your lead advisor know, and other arrangements can be made.

RSS USP & SCPH Information and Data Privacy Statement & Confidentiality Statement, v1.0 Sept 2024