Privacy Policy

The University of Hull (‘UoH‘) have contracted with Durham University, Newcastle University and the University of Sheffield to deliver the EPSRC Aura Centre for Doctoral Training (‘CDT’) in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment.

This Notice sets out how UoH will process any personal data held for the purposes of delivering PhD Scholarships at The EPSRC Aura Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment. The UoH will be data controller over data that you provide.

Further information can be found in any section marked ‘More information’ within this Notice.

If you have any questions regarding this Notice, or want to contact either organisation directly please contact the University of Hull’s Data Protection Officer (“DPO”) dataprotection@hull.ac.ukor University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX.

1. Introduction

(a) What is this Notice?

This Notice is relevant to those applying for PhD Scholarships at The EPSRC Aura Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment with the University of Hull (UoH). As we hold information in a form that identifies individuals, it is “personal data” often referred to as “data” in this Notice.

More information: The purpose of this Notice is to enable you to understand the scope of the personal data which the UoH collects, holds and uses that relates to you personally, and how this data will be handled.

Where you are studying at one of our partner institutions mentioned above, their own privacy notices will be applicable to your personal data.

The UoH acknowledge how important it is that you know how we use your data. In addition, the data protection laws require us to be transparent about how we process your data, and they set legal requirements to give you specific information. Because of this, this Notice is quite long and it contains some technical legal language. We have tried to make the Notice as clear as possible and provide useful signposting so that you can find the information most relevant to you.

(b) What is data protection?

Personal data is information relating to identifiable living individuals (known as “data subjects”). Use of personal data (including collecting data, sharing data or just holding it in files) is referred to as “data processing”.

In order to protect your privacy, organisations do not have complete freedom in how they use your data. They have to comply with data protection laws, which apply restrictions on when and how personal data can be processed. Processing of personal data is lawful only where it meets certain requirements or conditions which relate to the purpose of the processing and how it is carried out.

More information: Privacy legislation is set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (called “GDPR”) and a new UK law, the Data Protection Act 2018.

Under these laws the UoH is the data controller of the information it collects and processes as described in this Notice. This means that they have a legal responsibility to safeguard the information and ensure it is processed lawfully.

The UoH will:

• Take steps to ensure that the data it processes is accurate and up to date;
• Give you clear information about its processing of your data, in one or more Privacy Notices like this one;
• Only process your data for specific purposes described to you in a Privacy Notice, and only share your data with third parties as provided for in a Privacy Notice; and
• Keep your data secure.

(c) Using this Notice

In these sections, against each description of a data processing or sharing activity you will see a summary description of the processing and a colour-coded indicator of the legal basis of the processing (these are explained below). This first level of information will also include any specific processing activities which we particularly need to highlight to you. You can then choose whether to read the “More Information” text, which gives a more detailed layer of information about the processing and its legal basis.

(d) Legal basis for processing of your data

In order to process your data UoH need a legal basis (or bases) to do so, these are explained below.

The UoH use colour coding to provide a quick, easily-accessible indication of the legal basis for processing. This box explains how the colour coding in this Notice links to the conditions set out in the GDPR: references to Articles are to the relevant provisions within the GDPR. Further information about the basis of a specific category of processing can usually be obtained by reading the “More Information” text within this Notice.

University of Hull’s lawful bases for processing

In addition, the UoH can only process information about any criminal convictions you may have where this is in the substantial public interest and falls within a relevant description of processing set out in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The UoH will process criminal conviction data by virtue of Sections 6(1)(e), Section 10 and Section 18 GDPR.

2. When and how we collect your data

The Information the UoH collect and generate about you includes:

• Collected from you: through your application to University of Hull
• Collected from the information you have provided within an enquiry or an application form

• Collected from you through your time studying with the UoH

Data categories collected by UoH

• Contact and identification information and personal characteristics
• Your name, and contact information such as address, email address and telephone number, as well as your date of birth, your passport number or national identity card details, country of domicile, your nationality and details regarding your next of kin. We will also allocate you a unique student number;
• Any other data you provide us when completing the enquiry form, application form or online enrolment. The UoH will also process data you provide during the course of study.

The UoH will only access information in these systems where this is required for the purposes of their role within UoH and to fulfil our contract with you.

3. How UoH hold your data

UoH uses an electronic student record system (currently a system called Strategic Information Technology Systems or SITS) to host core student records. There is an individual SITS account for each student in relation to a particular UoH course which they are undertaking. The information held within SITS includes basic contact and registration information; location data; information you provided when applying to UoH; information about your course of study and your academic performance and progress; information about your fee liabilities, financing arrangements, fee payments and other aspects of your contract with UoH; information about complaints, academic appeals and submission of mitigating circumstances; any student disciplinary matters; and information about any additional support needs you may have. Information in SITS is accessed by UoH staff to the extent that they require access for the purposes of their role within UoH and fulfil our contract with you.

The same types of information which are held within SITS will also be separately held, to some extent, in electronic and/or hard copy by the Faculty or Faculties in which you are studying. Information about complaints and academic appeals may be held centrally as well as in Faculty records.

UoH will only to access information in these systems where this is required for the purposes of their role within UoH and to fulfil our contract with you.

Your personal data will also be held in electronic and/or hard copies within files and email folders in individual UoH administration departments. This includes information held by our Finance and Academic Quality departments in relation to their administration of your course and the associated financial arrangements. It will also include any information generated through your decision to access additional services provided by or through UoH, such as accommodation services and additional learning support.

4. How and why we process your data

(a) Enquiries;
How UoH process your data in relation to enquiries:

♦ The data we process for these purposes is provided by you when you make your enquiry. It will include your name and contact details and information about you. This data is used to respond to your enquiry. It is also used for analysis.

♦ Necessary for performance of UoH’s core public task, i.e. delivery of higher education and research

We will keep details of you and your enquiry in accordance with our Data Retention Policy This is to help us respond more effectively to any further enquiries you make of UoH in the future, and to carry out analysis as described below. Where you later make an application to study at UOH, within our records we will link this additional information and the outcome of your application to your original enquiry details so that we can analyse the links between enquiries, applications and successful applications.

How UoH process your data in relation to applications and admissions

We process the data provided in your applications and further information provided by your referees for the purposes of evaluating your application to study at UOH. The data will be managed by UOH’s Admissions teams and will also be accessed by relevant individuals in UOH’s Faculties if this is necessary to determine whether we are able to make you an offer to study at UOH.

♦ ♦ We may share your application data with external individuals (in academic or other roles) for the purposes of assessing an application for use of an external supervisor, or for studentships with funding from external organisations such as NHS or private sector companies. We will not separately notify you before we share your data in this way. We will process this information along with other information in your application.

♦ Necessary for performance of UoH’s core public task, i.e. delivery of higher education and research.

♦ Necessary for the performance of a contract by UoH this means that the data provided by you is required to enable UoH to process your application and complete the admissions process.

(c) If you are offered a place;

How the UoH process your data if you are offered a place;

♦ If you are offered a place for postgraduate study the University of Hull will send you an offer letter via email.

♦ Necessary for performance of UoH’s core public task, i.e. delivery of higher education and research.

(d) If you accept a place

How the UoH will process your data if you accept a place

♦ ♦ Once you have accepted an offer from UOH, we will begin to process your data in preparation for you enrolment and for a number of purposes which will continue through into your time as a student at UOH.Data will be transferred because this is a partnership programme and there will be a joint sifting and interview panel where students will be selected for the programme. As noted below they will all study in Hull for the first year and some will then be placed in partner universities Durham, Newcastle and Sheffield.

♦ Your data will also be shared with the Research Council, this is to ensure that funding is made available to the UoH.

♦ Necessary for the performance of a contract by UoH this means that the data provided by you is required to enable UoH to process your application and complete the admissions process.

♦ Necessary for performance of UoH’s core public task, i.e. delivery of higher education and research.

5. Retention

(a) How long will your information be kept;

The UoH will retain your data in accordance with their Data Retention Policy and schedule.

6. Your rights as a data subject and how to exercise them

Under the data protection laws you have a number of rights in relation to our processing of your data. In summary these are:

• Right to request access to your data as processed by UoH and information about that processing (“Right to access”]
• Right to rectify any inaccuracies in your data
• Right to request erasure of your data from our systems and files
• Right to place restrictions on our processing of your data
• Right to object to our processing of your data
• Right to data portability: where we are processing data that you have provided to us, on the basis of consent or as necessary for the performance of a contract between us, you have the right to ask us to provide your data in an appropriate format to you or to another controller.

Most of these rights are subject to some exceptions or exemptions, depending on the purposes for which data is being processed.

If you have any questions or concerns about our processing of your data, please contact the respective organisations data protection contacts.

The UoH will always aim to respond clearly and fully to any concerns you have about our processing and requests to exercise the rights set out above. However, as a data subject if you have concerns about our data processing or consider that we have failed to comply with the data protection legislation then you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner:

Online reporting: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Post: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF