Privacy notice for patient partners

Privacy notice for patient partners

This notice explains how the University of Aberdeen handles your personal information when you register your interest in patient and public involvement (PPI) activities that take place within the Epidemiology Group and the Aberdeen Centre for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health.

Who we are

The organisation responsible for your personal information in terms of data protection legislation is the University of Aberdeen. 

If you have any questions about the University’s handling of your information, or your rights under privacy laws, you can contact the University Data Protection Officer in the following ways:

Information we collect and use about you

You will have provided us with information such as your name, telephone number and/or email address and areas of interest for taking part in PPI activities.

Why we process this information, and our lawful basis

We collect and use your personal information with your consent in order to send you information about taking part in PPI activities that will be used to conduct academic and scientific research with researchers at the University of Aberdeen and research partners, including adverts for participation in University of Aberdeen studies, and studies from approved external research organisations if applicable.

The University is authorised to undertake research under powers provided by the Universities (Scotland) Acts, and also undertakes research in the public interest.

Disclosing your information

We will not disclose the information you provided on the sign-up form to any other organisation, other than when required do so by law or with your consent (either verbal or written).

The external suppliers we use for IT support may have access to your personal information in order to provide that service to the University. Our third-party supplier arrangements are regulated by contracts designed to protect the information and limit the way it is used.

How long your information is kept

We will keep information about you for a maximum of 2 years after your last contact with us for PPI activities.

Your rights

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time for the University to continue to process your information. If you wish to withdrawn consent, please contact us at the following address:

Epidemiology Group
University of Aberdeen
AB25 2ZD

Email: epidemiology@abdn.ac.uk

You also have rights to obtain a copy of your personal information, and to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information. Under certain conditions, you can ask us to restrict the way we use your personal information, erase your personal information and object to the University processing your personal information. These rights depend on our lawful basis for processing your personal information. This means we may not be able to comply with your request in every case. If we cannot do as you ask, we will always reply to you and explain our position.

There is no charge to make a request, but we may need evidence to confirm your identity before we respond in full.

You can ask about your privacy rights or make a request about your personal information by contacting the University Data Protection Officer:

If are dissatisfied with the way the University has handled your personal information or dealt with your data protection issue, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted via their website at www.ico.org.uk/concerns.