Get into Geosciences Data Protection Notice

Aberystwyth University’s Get into Geoscience Wales (AU GiG) is an exciting two-day event to introduce A level students to the geosciences and the world of careers available to graduates today.

Aberystwyth University is the data controller and this notice explains how we handle and use your personal information in line with current UK data protection legislation.

 

How do we get your personal data?

We obtain your personal data directly from you/your school group leader. To assist us in administering the event booking you are required to complete an online application form.

For young people we will always collect consent from the school and a parent/carer/guardian.

Why do we need your personal data?

  1. To administer the event, and forward relevant information.
  2. For the purposes of monitoring which allows the AU GiG Team to:  
    • encourage more people from underrepresented groups into the geosciences.
    • evaluate the activities we deliver and provide a clear picture of the people we work with.  
    • fulfil compulsory external reporting requirements to funders such as the Geological Society of London, Quaternary Research Association, and British Society for Geomorphology.
  1. To ensure the health and safety and well-being of all participants in our events e.g., ensuring that we are aware of medical conditions, disabilities, and learning differences.  
  2. To contact you in the future to ask about your chosen route into higher education.
  3. To send information regarding forthcoming activities and events.  

 

What information do we collect and on what bases?

We collect the following information for all participants who take part in our activities. This helps the AU GiG Team demonstrate that our activities are engaging young people from backgrounds that are currently under-represented in Geoscience Higher Education.  

  • Name
  • Pronouns
  • Contact details  
  • Date of birth  
  • Gender  
  • Ethnicity
  • Welsh fluency
  • School details

After confirming your place, we will then ask you for additional information to ensure your health and safety whilst visiting us during the Get into Geoscience Wales event. This may include:  

  • Dietary requirements 
  • Allergies 
  • Disabilities 
  • Accessibility requirements
  • Additional learning needs
  • Health/ Medical information

The event will be photographed and filmed to promote the AU GiG event you attend and to promote future AU GiG events. The photographs taken and videos filmed (which may include your image) will be used in the following places:

  • On the AU GiG website
  • In traditional campaigns (brochures, prospectus, leaflets, flyers, posters, pull-ups, exhibition stands).
  • As hard copy prints, which may be displayed around the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences building and at university open and visit days.
  • Through press releases or media articles, either online or in hard copy.
  • Through wider social media, digital programmatic campaigns and e-mails.

If you have any objections to the use of your image for the above purposes, then please contact us.

Legal Bases

The work that Get into Geoscience Wales carries out to promote wider engagement in the geosciences and participation in higher education is carried out in the public interest (Art. 6(1)(e) UK GDPR). 

We’ll collect contact information from you such as name, and email address to hopefully enter into a contract with you to provide the event and accommodation, where necessary (Article 6(1)(b) UK GDPR). 

We will ask for Special Category Data such as your dietary needs, allergies and accessibility requirements. We may also ask for medical information if you are participating in our field trip. This information will be processed on the basis of legal obligation (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974) and with your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)).

If you are happy to be included in our mailing list for any future events and for us to contact you to ask about your higher education and career choices then the legal bases for processing your personal data will be consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting get-into-geoscience@aber.ac.uk or replying to any email from us with the subject ‘Unsubscribe me’.

 

Who will have access to my personal data?

Only members of the AU GiG team who need access to relevant parts or all of your information will be authorised to do so. Some relevant information will be shared with colleagues in our conference office in order to arrange the catering and accommodation booking.

We will share anonymised statistics with our funding bodies and partners e.g the Geological Society of London, Quaternary Research Association, and British Society for Geomorphology. You will not be identifiable.

 

How is my personal data stored and for how long?

Your personal data is securely stored on Aberystwyth University’s systems.   

Electronic records are held on our password protected Sharepoint database for a period of 6 years after an event, with data reviewed annually on 31st August.   

We want to store your data for this length of time to track your progress into Higher Education. We want to see whether you pursue a geoscience subject at Higher Education and whether you graduate to measure the impact of Get into Geoscience Wales on its participants.   

Data shared/linked with third parties for research purposes will remain within the third-party databases for the lifetime of the third parties’ projects, as individuals are no longer identifiable.   

We will keep information from unsuccessful applications until the end of Get into Geoscience Wales. Once the event has ended, all information pertaining to unsuccessful applications will be deleted.   

 

What are my rights?

Under data protection law, you have rights available to you, depending on our reason for processing your information.

Where we process your personal data on the basis of legal obligation, you have the right: to access your personal information, to rectify and to restrict the processing of your personal information.

Where we process your personal data on the basis of performance of a task carried out in the public interest, you have the right: to access your personal information, to rectify, to object, to restrict the processing of your personal information and not to be subject to automated decision making and profiling.

Where we process your personal data on the basis of consent, you have the right: to withdraw your consent (see above how to do this), to access your personal information, to rectify, to erase, to restrict processing and to the portability of your personal information.

Where we process your personal data on the basis of contractual obligations, you have the right: to access your personal information, to rectify, to restrict processing and to the portability of your personal information.

Please visit the University Data Protection webpages for further information in relation to your rights. 

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, contact get-into-geoscience@aber.ac.uk.

 

More Information

If you have any questions, contact get-into-geoscience@aber.ac.uk in the first instance. If you are unhappy with the way your personal information has been processed, you can contact the University’s Data Protection Officer.

If you remain dissatisfied, then you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).