Research Site Privacy Notice

Personal data means any information relating to a person who could be directly or indirectly identified by that information. This definition provides for a wide range of ways that a person may be identified by their data. This includes their name, identification number, location data or an online identifier. Some information is considered to be ‘Special Category’ information and needs more protection because of its sensitivity.

The University of Westminster is the Data Controller for the personal information held in relation to commonaccessproject.com.  This Privacy Notice is in addition to the University’s privacy notice. 

How we collect information

We collect information about you when you

• sign up to hear more about our research
• visit our webpages
• make a comment on our blog

Confidentiality

The information you provide will only be seen by the research team.

What information we collect and hold

Personal information collected includes:

• name
• email address
• comments on opinions you may share
• IP address, device information, date/time records, content viewed

We do not collect any special category information.

When posting a comment your name or user name will be made public.  When you post a comment we will retain some of your personal data such as your IP address and name and other metadata such as time of posting. This is necessary to defend ourselves from possible liability claims that may arise from unlawful comments posted by you and reflects our legitimate interest.

For more information about cookies please see more information here.

How the personal information we hold is used

Your personal information will be used to:

• manage communication lists and preferences
• provide you with further information about our research
• notify you of future opportunities
• for statistical purposes
• analyse usage information

Our reason for processing your personal data

We process your personal data for the following reason

• you have consented to the processing of your personal data

Organisations we may share your information with in relation to this processing

We may share your information with the following organisations;

• research partners or co-collaborators
• we may share information that identifies you as having viewed particular web content with service providers 

How we protect your information

The personal information we hold will be processed with appropriate security and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA).  Your information may be held outside of the UK.  Where this is the case, we ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect your data.

Our data retention policy

We will retain this information only for as long as necessary.  We may aggregate and anonymise data for wider internal management reporting or research purposes. Personal data will be kept in line with the university’s retention schedule.

Disclosure of information to third parties

Personal information will not be disclosed to external organisations other than those acting on the instructions of the University.  Where this is the case, a written contract will be put in place between the University and the third party setting out appropriate data protection obligations.

We use several commercial companies and partners to either store personal information or to manage it on our behalf. Where we have these arrangements, we ensure that there is a contract or data sharing agreement is in place to ensure that the requirements of data protection legislation are met.

Sometimes we have a legal duty to disclose personal information.  

Your rights

The law gives you several rights to control which personal information is used by us and how it is used by us.

How can you access the information we hold about you?

You are legally entitled to ask to see any records we hold about you. If you wish to request access to the personal information we hold about you, please contact the Information Compliance Team through the University’s subject access procedure.

How can you request correction of inaccurate information?

Whilst we try to ensure that any personal data we hold about you is correct, there may be situations where the information we hold is no longer accurate. If this is the case, please contact the research team so that any errors can be investigated and corrected.   If you don’t know which research team to contact please contact the Information Compliance Team.

You can ask to delete information (right to be forgotten)

In some circumstances you can ask for your personal information to be deleted, for example, in instances where:

• your personal information is no longer needed for the reason why it was collected in the first place
• you have removed your consent for us to use your information (where there is no other legal reason for us to use it)
• deleting the information is a legal requirement

Please note that there are situations where the right to be forgotten does not apply.  

You can ask to limit what we use your data for

In some circumstances, you have the right to restrict what processing an organisation carries out or ask that they stop processing your personal data.  Please contact the Information Compliance Team to make a request.

You can ask to have your information moved to another provider (data portability)

You have the right to ask for your personal information to be given back to you or another service provider of your choice in a commonly used format.  Please contact the Information Compliance Team to make a request. 

You can object

You have the right to object to processing of your personal data at any time.  This means that you can stop or prevent an organisation from using your data.  However, it only applies in certain circumstances.  Please contact the Information Compliance Team to make a request.

Automated decision making and profiling

You have a right to request that decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which may produce a legal effect or affect them significantly, to have some form of human input so they are not automatically generated by a computer. Please contact the Information Compliance Team to make a request.

Right to complain

You have the right to complain about how we use your personal data. In the first instance, please contact the Information Compliance Team.

How to contact us?

If you would like further information or if you have any concerns about how we handle your data, these can be raised with our Information Compliance Team by emailing DPA@westminster.ac.uk or writing to;

Information Compliance Team
University of Westminster
32-38 Wells Street
London W1T 3UW

Independent advice

Independent advice can be sought from the UK regulator for data protection, the Information Commission (IC).

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number.  Alternatively, visit www.ico.org.uk or email casework@ico.org.uk.

This privacy notice and updates

If you have any queries about this privacy notice, or about how we hold and use your data, please contact the Information Compliance Team.

We will review and update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our processes and procedures.  When such changes occur, we will revise the 'last updated' date on this notice.  We encourage you to periodically review this notice to remain informed.

Last reviewed and updated August 2026.