The University of Southampton (University) values your privacy and we recognise the need to process your personal Data in a fair and lawful manner. This Privacy Notice, together with the University Network Terms, set out the terms relevant to the University’s processing of personal data obtained as a result of your use of our University Network.
The University Network means the University’s digital information network with domain name soton.ac.uk and which may be accessed by a User in several ways, including but not limited to the World Wide Web and through various devices which are used for the transmission or reception (either wholly or in part) of any data (including voice, e-mail, video, web content or any other types or formats of data).
We are a "data controller". This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. This privacy notice aims to give you information on how the University of Southampton collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you sign up to our newsletter, purchase a product or service or take part in a competition. This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.
It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.
It provides you with certain information that must be provided under the General Data Protection Regulation ( (EU) 2016/679) (GDPR). Our registration number with the Information Commissioner’s Office is Z6801020.
Data refers to the information that we hold about you from which either on its own or in combination with other information you can be identified and may include names, contact details, photographs, identification numbers, online identifiers, biometric information and expressions of opinion about you or indications as to our intentions about you. A list of the data we collect is set out below.
"Processing" means doing anything with your Data, such as collecting, recording or holding the Data as well as disclosing, destroying or using the Data in any way.
This notice may be amended from time to time and you can obtain a current version on the Privacy Notice web page.
We will comply with data protection law and principles, which means that your data will be:
This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:
Where you are required to enter your username and password to gain access to the University Network or a University Network Service, over and above the information referred to above, we may also collect information about external networks and resources you have visited, accessed or materials downloaded.
From time to time the University runs surveys about various aspects related to its Services, including but not limited to surveys about certain Users’ travelling habits to and from campus, the student experience, graduate employability and so forth. These surveys are anonymous but in certain circumstances because of the other information we hold about Users who are also members of the University community a User may be identifiable.
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature.
However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data) unless we specifically ask you for your consent for us to collect this data through our online forms. We do not collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
Direct interactions. You may give us your identity, contact and financial data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties as set out below:
- analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU;
- advertising networks such as Google AdWords and Facebook based outside the EU and
- search information providers such as Google based outside the EU.
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests.
We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).
Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending direct marketing communications to you via email or text message or where you have consented to us collecting your personal information through one of our online forms. Where you have provided your consent you have the right to withdraw it at any time by Contacting us.
We will only process your Data for the specific purpose or purposes that we tell you about, or if specifically permitted by the UK Data Protection Act 1998 or the Data Protection Act 2018 (depending on which is in force at the relevant time), and will only process your data to the extent necessary for that specific purpose or purposes.
We will keep the data we store about you accurate and up to date as relevant to the purpose or purposes for which we process it. Data that is inaccurate or out of date will be destroyed. Please notify us if your personal details change or if data we hold about you is inaccurate.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees of the University who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal data in accordance with our Record Retention Schedule.
Your information will be shared internally within the University for the purposes of processing your enquiry, application, request or contract.
We may have to share your personal data externally with the following parties:
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
Exceptionally, we may disclose your Data with a third party if required to do so to protect or defend the University’s rights, interests, or property, or those of third parties; act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of University constituents, or the public; or protect against legal liability.
We may transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is:
Please Contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.
You have a number of rights. You can:
If you would like to exercise these rights please use our online form or write to:
The Data Protection Officer
Legal Services
University of Southampton, Highfield
Southampton, SO17 1BJ
Email: data.protection@soton.ac.uk
If at any stage you are concerned about the content of any communications from the University e.g. unwanted marketing information or you wish to change how we communicate with you please contact us at: gdpr@soton.ac.uk.
We also have additional policies and guidelines concerning particular activities. If you would like further information please see our Publication Scheme.
If you are unhappy with the way that we have handled your data you can contact us at: gdpr@soton.ac.uk or contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. See their website.