Our Privacy Policy

South West – School Health Research Network

In this privacy notice we:

1) Summarize how we use your information

2) Provide detail on our legal basis

3) Provide privacy notice information for all

4) Provide privacy notice information specific to researchers

5) Provide privacy notice information specific to study participants

1) HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the South West – School Health Research Network (SW-SHRN) collects your personal information. SW-SHRN is a school-based project that seeks to affect the delivery of public health in participating schools and associated policies. The Network provides two questionnaires (one student and one school level) administered every two years. Feedback of responses are delivered through school specific student and school environment reports. These are complimented with anonymised summary information from all participating schools reported to schools taking part and the local authority concerned. School reports are accompanied by report discussions with a senior researcher. This is coupled with a SW-SRHN website hosting information for study participants, including sign-posting support resources for students. Periodically face-to-face or virtual meetings with policy makers, teachers, and other stakeholders, will seek to cross traditional working boundaries and provide a forum for more direct knowledge exchange and generate a subject focused community.

SW-SHRN is a research project run and owned by the University of Bristol. The University is the ‘data controller’ as defined in the Data Protection Act (the organisation who determines why and how personal data are processed). SW-SHRN complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (2018) with regard to the collection, processing, storage and disclosure of personal information.

Our privacy policy explains how we will use any data that you share with us. We are legally required to tell you how we will use this information and give you the opportunity to tell us not to use your information in that way.

It applies to information we collect when you:

• Visit our website.
• Post information on social media.
• Complete any form.
• Subscribe to newsletters or other circulars.

For participants:

• Phone, email or text us.
• Complete our questionnaires.
• Participate in interviews.
• Update your contact details.
• Return completed questionnaires, consent forms, reply slips or any other written information.
• Collect data from routine official records (for example, school education records; environmental, census and local authority neighbourhood data).

It also applies to the way we handle, process, and store your information in:

• Sending post and email.
• Storing consent forms and questionnaires.
• Finding participants who we lose contact with.
• Providing research data for use in scientific research.

We also provide you with further information on your privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity in other written or verbal communications and, for participants, in the information we send to you via post and email when we ask you to take part in research.

2) OUR LEGAL BASIS

Who controls the use of your data?

SW-SHRN is part of the University of Bristol, who is the Data Controller for the information directly collected by SW-SHRN. SW-SHRN is also the (joint) Data Controller for information about participants collected from routine administrative sources.

The University can be contacted at:

Data Protection Officer
University of Bristol
Beacon House
Queens Road
Bristol BS8 1QU, UK

Email: data-protection@bristol.ac.uk

Complaints or queries

SW-SHRN aims to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. We encourage people to tell us if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading, or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving the way we handle your personal details.

This privacy notice is intended to be brief and clear and does not cover every single way we handle your personal details in minute detail. However, we are happy to provide further information on request.

If you would like to complain about our handling of your data, contact the University’s Information Rights Officer via email at data-protection@bristol.ac.uk.

Our legal basis:

SW-SHRN’s purpose is to conduct scientific research that aims to improve the public good. This is part of the wider purpose of the University of Bristol to conduct research aiming to improve scientific understanding.

Our legal basis for using your information, under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, is:

1) Performance of a task carried out in the public interest (Article 6(1)(e) in the GDPR); and, where sensitive personal information is involved:

2) Scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes (Article 9(2)(j) in accordance with Article 89(1)).

The GDPR defines ‘sensitive personal information’ as information that reveals a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership; and the processing of genetic data or biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a person; data concerning health or data concerning sex life or sexual orientation.

This legal basis within GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 is separate to, and in addition to, our seeking consent to take part in the research process, which we use to help ensure our research is ethical and complies with other applicable laws.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of SW-SHRN, or others.

3) PRIVACY NOTICE INFORMATION FOR ALL

Visitors to our website 

When someone visits our website, we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site to help us monitor and improve our website. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. We will not associate any data gathered from the website with any personally identifying information from any source. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it. We do not generally provide any personal information about users of our website to third parties or other users.

This notice is separate to, but supported by, the University of Bristol’s website privacy policy available at

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/style-guides/web/policies/legal/privacy/

.

Posting information on social media

SW-SHRN may use a number of social media presences, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Users of these social media presences should be aware that any information posted is covered by the terms and conditions of the respective site and is in the public domain.

Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that information you post on our social media sites is within the bounds of the law.

Accessing and updating personal information

As an individual, you have a right under the GDPR to update or amend the personal information we hold about you, to ask us to remove your personal information from our records and to obtain information from us, including a description of the personal data that we hold on you. For more information about this please contact us (details below).

SW-SHRN aims to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 2018. If we do hold information about you, we will:

• Give you a description of it;
• Tell you why we are holding it;
• Tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
• Let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form

To make a request for any personal information we may hold, please put your request in writing to the address below.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example, by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone. If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes.

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover the links on our website which link to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy notices on the other websites you visit.

How to contact us

If you want to request information you can contact us via the details given below. Further information is also available in the University of Bristol’s Information Security Policy, available at

http://www.bris.ac.uk/infosec/policies/.

4) INFORMATION FOR SW-SHRN STAKEHOLDERS

We will never sell your personal information to other organisations.

The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you believe any information we hold concerning you is out of date, please let us know.

Newsletters

This data includes your name and email address. We use this data so that we can communicate with you and keep you up to date with news and information from us. You can notify us at any stage should you wish your details to be removed and contact to cease.

5) INFORMATION FOR SW-SHRN STUDY PARTICIPANTS ONLY

Our commitment to you

Taking part in the project is voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time without giving a reason. You will not be identified from the research – researchers do not see your name with your questionnaire information. Your personal information is used to create an identification code and help with data linkage (see below). Every research project is checked to make sure it meets the highest scientific and ethical standards. All the researchers we work with, are bound to keep your information confidential. There are independent experts whose job it is to look at what we do and how we do it to make sure your rights are protected. We do not do research with the aim of commercial gain – all our research aims to benefit society and is not for profit.

Changing your mind

If you wish to change the way you participate – or stop participating – in SW-SHRN you can do so at any time. Please let us know via the details below. Information collected during the study cannot be guaranteed to be removed more than 5 days after participating for a questionnaire and 2 weeks for interviews as it may not be possible to identify your individual data after this time.

Phoning, emailing or texting us

When you phone or email we will verify your identity and ensure that you are a study participant before proceeding. Any information that you give us in the communication may be recorded unless you advise us not to. We will also record relevant details (such as date or time) of the phone call or email.

The University’s third-party email provider is Microsoft (Outlook). Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to us is within the bounds of the law.

Similarly, text messages should comply with the requirements of third-party mobile network providers.

Completing questionnaires

We will collect standard login and page monitoring information to help us understand how people are accessing different parts of the questionnaire. We will also use this information to decide if you have completed your questionnaire, or not, and may then contact you to remind you to complete your questionnaire if you have not already done so.

In this study we will not collect personal information within the questionnaire. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information by this method, we will be up front about this, making it clear what we are doing, and will explain what we intend to do with the information.

When completing your questionnaire online, all information you provide is confidential. Your research data and personal details are kept separately. No researcher will see your name linked to your research data.

Online questionnaires are administered on University of Bristol owned computer systems using software licensed to the University.

Completing virtual data collection

When you are invited to complete research data collection virtually (using video or audio) we will make it clear what personal information is required and we will explain what we intend to do with it.

The University has several recommended third-party communications providers which are approved for research purposes, including Microsoft (Teams and Skype) and Zoom.

We may use a variety of third-party mobile network providers.

Updating your contact details

Please contact us to amend any contact details by the methods detailed below. Personal information may need to be collected by more secure link (such as and encrypted fluff link) or in person.

The University’s third-party email provider is Microsoft (Outlook).

Returning completed questionnaires, consent forms, reply slips or other written information

When you return an item to us in writing (for example, a questionnaire, consent form, reply slip or written letter) we will treat this information as confidential. Your personal details will be kept separately from your research data. We will not pass your personal details to third-parties except in the specific circumstances listed below.

Recording and transcribing interviews

When research data is required to be recorded (audio or video), we will explain what we intend to do with it and ask for your consent prior to conducting any recordings. Due to the difficulty in guaranteeing that a recorded interview will not contain personally identifiable data, we treat all recordings as if they do.

Research data will be recorded using encrypted devices (such as Olympus DS-3500 digital recorder, encrypted smart phone/tablet/laptop). Interview recordings may be securely transcribed by a University of Bristol member of staff, or by an external transcription company approved by the University to process data subject to the Data Protection Act (2018).

How we will use your personal details

We will keep your personal details confidential and separate from your research data. Your personal details will not be shared with third-parties except for certain service providers working on our behalf.

These third-parties include:

• Research Data Storage Facility which comprises confidential, University of Bristol disks and servers housed in two separate data centres
• Shred-It (for confidential waste disposal)
• UK Transcription Limited, Rapid Transcriptions, The Transacription Company UK or Bristol Transcription Services (for transcription of video/audio recordings).
• Department for Education

We will only share your personal details with these third parties under strict conditions set out in a legally binding data processing agreement. This offers assurances about the use, access and security of any personal data disclosed and does not allow any onward disclosure or sales of personal data by the third party. Where paper questionnaires, invitations to participate, or other communications, are needed, we will request the school concerned to manage distribution of materials, to contact addresses that they hold, by Royal Mail or other secure method.

How we will use your research data

We will only collect your research data with permission, for example, by asking you to complete a questionnaire. Once we have collected it, it will be processed for research use. It will be stored securely and confidentially. We will de-identify the research data, so you cannot be identified from it.

Social media

SW-SHRN will not use this data for research purposes without asking for your permission beyond monitoring statistics such as number of posts or pages visited. We will not attempt to use social media to collect your personal details.

Social media will only be used in accordance with the site rules.  We may store your Facebook URL, Facebook email address or Twitter username if provided, so that we may continue to communicate with you. This piece of administrative data will be stored securely in our contact management database, along with your other contact details that you have provided to us.

Collecting data from routine official records

A great deal of information is collected and stored about all of us in our official records. This information gives a detailed picture of many aspects of our life. SW-SHRN researchers will seek to use this information alongside the information they collected about you (e.g., in questionnaires). Through doing this, researchers are able to address important research questions such as why people lead different lives and why some people’s life experiences are positive whilst for others they are less so.

Where we have permission, SW-SHRN will supply Government departments such as the Department for Education with information to allow them to match your data with information they hold. They will return to us de-identified information, useful for research. We call this way of collecting information ‘data linkage’.

Before we collect your research data, we will inform you what routine datasets (e.g., national pupil database) we intend to connect your information to. You will be asked to provide opt-in consent to your data being obtained. Only data for those who provide consent will be sought. We fully accept your right to decide that you do not want us to access your records and choosing not to does not prohibit you from taking part in any research we undertake. You can let us know you would not like your data to be included by contacting us, however we would not be able to accommodate a request once a de-identified dataset has been produced.

Collection of this information by SW-SHRN will not affect the services you receive from government departments in any way. To make sure we accurately identify your records we will use your personal details (name, date of birth and postcode) to make an accurate link to the equivalent information in your official records.

Who we share data with 

SW-SHRN operates as a scientific resource for the legitimate research community. Researchers working at Universities, in government departments, at charities or other organisations across the world may apply to access research data. Each application is assessed by the Bristol Data Access Committee, who decide whether the researcher is legitimate, if the data requested is needed to conduct the research, and if the research project can be conducted in line with the commitment’s we have made to you. We only share data in a way that seeks to protect your confidentiality.

Contact details

Researcher: Dr Catherine Sharp

Email: SW-SHRN@bristol.ac.uk

Telephone: 07818 0260484

Address: SW-SHRN, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol BS8 2PS

About this privacy notice

This is version 1.0 of the privacy notice, originally published 11/02/2021 as version 1.0.