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This is the Privacy Policy for the website of the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA).

SUPA is an alliance of eight Scottish Universities that have come together to form a research alliance in Physics. The administration of SUPA is located at University of Glasgow, Kelvin Building, University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8QQ.

SUPA recognises the need to protect the privacy of people using our websites and services. This statement is about how we collect and use personal information.

By using the SUPA website and services you consent to the collection and retention of personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

If there are changes to this policy, you will be notified about them when on sign into this website. 

General undertaking

SUPA will:

• Respect the privacy and confidentiality of the users of its website.

• Only record personal information for the purposes described in this policy.

• Keep personal details secure from unauthorised access and use.

• Not disclose, sell, rent, trade or otherwise share the information it collects with third parties except insofar as it is legally obliged so to do.

What information does SUPA collect?

Visiting the website

During any visit to supa.ac.uk, web pages and a short text file called a cookie are sent to your computer. We log your Internet Protocol (IP) address in order to receive and send information from and to you over the internet.

SUPA uses cookies to ensure that pages are displayed optimally and to improve the service to our users. Our cookies do not contain any personal information. Cookies will be used to help us to collect data about your IP address and location in the world. We may also use pixel tags for similar purposes.

Cookies cannot read data from your computer and they do not damage your system. You can find out more about cookies(link is external) and pixel tags(link is external) at Wikipedia.

You can reset your browser to refuse any cookie or to alert you when a cookie is being sent. If you refuse cookies, some of the SUPA web pages may not function as intended.

You may also choose to provide additional information to us by using the feedback and contact forms provided on some of the pages. In addition, some of the pages in the SUPA website are only available to registered users and to access these you must log in using your SUPA username and password.

The SUPA servers are provided by Rackspace Inc. UK. Under instruction from SUPA staff, Rackspace technical staff have limited access to the servers for purposes of detection, prevention and resolution of security or technical issues outlined in Rackspace Data Processing Agreement Addendum 29/3/2018.

Feedback forms, registering for conferences, workshops and events

We collect information about you when you register for any of our conferences, workshops, courses or other services, make an enquiry, report a problem, join one of our mailing lists or order products or services from us. You may be asked to provide some personal data such as your name, affiliation and email address.  

The feedback and contact forms on the SUPA website can be used without registering. Any information you provide is voluntary and by supplying this information you are consenting to it being kept by SUPA for a reasonable period of time and used for the purposes set out in this policy.

Where we use external service providers to assist us, users should be aware of the Terms and Privacy Policies of those specific websites. Where we can, we use services based in the EEA or EU, but where we use services based in the US (e.g. Eventbrite, MailChimp, G-Suite) we have checked that these organisations participate in and comply with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework.

Registering

Many pages on the SUPA website are available for visitors to read without registering or logging in. We use cookies and pixel tags to help us to provide an effective service to these users but collect no personal information (see above).

However, sometimes we need to know who you are in order to provide you with individually tailored services and ask you to log in using your SUPA username and password.

SUPA holds information about its registered users in a secure database and may use this for tracking purposes.

Submitting an application on apply.supa.ac.uk

When you supply any personal information to SUPA (e.g. when applying for a Prize Studentship or Condensed Matter Doctoral Training Centre) we must collect the information fairly and explain how we will use it. To process your application the information you share with us may be viewed with academic and administrative staff working in any of the SUPA universities.  Each time we ask you for information of this kind, there is a notice about privacy on the relevant page. We let you know why we are requesting the information and tell you if we want to pass the information on to anyone else. Personal information provided by you in your application and information provided by your referees will be deleted at the end of each recruitment year.  This normally takes place in the second week of October each year.

SUPA does not use any automated decision-making software in relation to your application.  The website does use some antispam and security software to detect and prevent security threats.  If you have any technical problems registering with the website or submitting your application, please contact admin@supa.ac.uk.

We are required to provide statistics about applications we receive to our funding bodies (including SFC and UKRI).  Your application information will be used to prepare anonymised summaries of applications and statistical reports. The summaries will be retained within SUPA and top level statistics will be shared with staff from all eight institutions, and also our funding bodies and partners when required.

Graduate school lectures

SUPA Graduate School Lectures may be recorded. These recordings will include the broadcast video, audio and lecture materials. By attending SUPA lectures your image and voice may be stored. These recordings will be used to allow the review of the lecture material for a particular course in the case of a missed lecture or for later consolidation. Although primarily intended for the use of participants of a particular course, the recordings may be used within SUPA and with other higher education institutions as part of the sharing of similar courses. The recordings will be available for that year’s cohort until the end of the academic year, and will be stored for 5 years beyond the end of the course in question. In the future SUPA may also wish to use excerpts from SUPA lecture recordings for promotional purposes outside the UK. Additionally, we may wish to repurpose the recordings to sell as part of teaching packages to other higher education institutions.

We ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely and processed in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 1998, General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and UK Data Protection Act 2017.

For personal data subject access requests or requests to amend or delete personal data please contact the SUPA Office, admin@supa.ac.uk.

How does SUPA use the information it collects?

SUPA uses the information collected solely for the purpose stated and will not disclose, sell, rent, trade or otherwise share the information it collects with third parties except insofar as it is legally obliged to do so.

Where you have given us permission to use your data (e.g. mailing lists), the information collected is held securely and may be used to provide you with information we think will be of interest to you.

We monitor the use of the website to analyse traffic flows and understand our users better in order to inform the design of our site. Where we choose to publish usage data, it will be in aggregated form only and in such a way that it will not be possible to identify individual users.

Access to information

SUPA will provide you with a copy of all information maintained about you upon written request to:

SUPA Administration

University of Glasgow

Kelvin Building

SUPA Room 234

University Avenue

Glasgow G12 8QQ

Or by email to admin@supa.ac.uk(link sends e-mail)

Any user may require that the information held about them is removed from the database by writing to the above address. SUPA undertakes to correct any inaccuracies as soon as practicable after being notified of them in writing.

For access to information other than personal information please see the section on Freedom of Information below.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please contact us at

SUPA Administration

University of Glasgow

Kelvin Building

SUPA Room 234

University Avenue

Glasgow G12 8QQ

Or by email to admin@supa.ac.uk(link sends e-mail)

Freedom of Information

Requests for information other than personal information should be put in writing to:

SUPA Administration

University of Glasgow

Kelvin Building

SUPA Room 234

University Avenue

Glasgow G12 8QQ

Or by email to admin@supa.ac.uk(link sends e-mail)

This policy was updated May 2018.