Our privacy policy
The information we collect about you, our security agreement and your rights.
The University of Edinburgh (the “University”, “us” or “we”) is committed to preserving your privacy. Please read the following privacy policy to understand how we use and protect the information obtained from those visiting and using the EuroGCT website www.eurogct.org and its subdomains (the “website”). EuroGCT does not engage in marketing or advertisement. The site has been developed in the public interest for the purpose of disseminating public information on gene and cell therapy research according to the GDPR.
Your data
We want you to know exactly what will happen with your data if you use EuroGCT.org or submit enquiries to EuroGCT.org in accordance with the GDPR.
Information about you: how we use it and with whom we share it
The information you provide will be used by the EuroGCT to deliver and improve the information we provide, to ensure that you receive relevant information, and to ensure that we use resources in the most efficient and effective way. Your information will be processed by the University to:
- Provide you with relevant information on the condition or topic about which you have submitted an enquiry;
- Analyse our ability to provide relevant public information on gene and cell therapies.
We will not share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent, except where disclosure is:
- necessary to enforce our rights, including under our website Terms and Conditions of use; or
- required or permitted by law.
Authorised personnel within the University will be able to access the information you provide to us. Anonymised information may be provided to third parties for the purpose of improving the public information we provide.
If you opt-in to submitting an enquiry
We only send response emails to people who asked for them directly through the enquiry contact form. If you have opted-in to submit an enquiry, we will
- retain your submission on our server within the University of Edinburgh for a period of 10 years unless you request your submission be deleted for the purpose of improving the information available in the public’s interest;
- anonymise any submission if shared with a party outside the University of Edinburgh for the purpose of improving the information available in the public’s interest.
Using our websites and online services
When you use our websites, we collect information where available about your IP address, operating system and browser type. This information is anonymised with the third party Google Analytics. This is data about users' browsing actions and patterns. It is used to inform improvements to the website, for system administration, and to report aggregate and anonymised information to third parties – such as the number of website visitors per month.
We want to process as little personal information as possible when you use our website. That's why we've chosen Fathom Analytics for our website analytics, which doesn't use cookies and complies with the GDPR, ePrivacy (including PECR), COPPA and CCPA. Using this privacy-friendly website analytics software, your IP address is only briefly processed, and we (running this website) have no way of identifying you. As per the CCPA, your personal information is de-identified. You can read more about this on Fathom Analytics' website.
The purpose of us using this software is to understand our website traffic in the most privacy-friendly way possible so that we can continually improve our website and business. The lawful basis as per the GDPR is "Article 6(1)(f); where our legitimate interests are to improve our website and business continually." As per the explanation, no personal data is stored over time.
Contacting us
When you email us at one of our email addresses we use a contact relationship management system to keep track of your communication with us. If we have an existing relationship, and your email is not confidential, we will automatically store the subject of the email and the name of the person in our department you were contacting.
This is done by the University and we do not give this data to any third parties or rely on any third party data processors for this function.
We do this to make sure that we answer questions and support requests in a timely manner, and to ensure that we use resources in the most efficient and effective way. We also use this information to follow our data retention schedule.
Our legal basis
We are using information about you because you have given us your consent and any anonymised information collected is used in the public interest.
We use information about you related to your use of the website or requests for support because it is in the legitimate interest of the University. If we did not use your information we would not be able to provide effective and accurate public information, and it would be much harder to efficiently answer thousands of enquiry requests.
How long will we keep your data?
We will hold the personal data you provided us in accordance with our data retention schedule. All information is stored anonymised for research purposes for a period of 10 years, or if you ask us to remove it. EuroGCT does NOT share any personal information submitted through the enquiry form with third-parties and all information is secured on our server within the University of Edinburgh.
If you have any questions, or if you'd like your data to be deleted, please contact us.
Security
We employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to prevent unauthorised access. All information submitted via enquiry is stored on a private University of Edinburgh server for a period of 10 years.
Your rights
You have the right to ask for a copy of the information held by us in our records. EuroGCT will never use your personal information for marketing or advertising purposes. You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for research purposes. We will inform you (before collecting your personal data) if we intend to use your personal data for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your personal data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us.
Third party websites
The website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of third parties. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these third party websites.
Contact Us
If you have any queries concerning the information we hold about you or this privacy policy, or any questions on our use of your information then please contact us.
Our use of cookies
We use several types of cookies for a range of reasons across the website. Some are essential, while others you can opt out of or block. Opting out or blocking some cookies may affect the functionality of the website.
Why and how we use cookies
Like many websites, we sometimes place small data files on your computer. These files are known as cookies.
They improve things by:
- remembering settings, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you visit a new page
- measuring how you use the website so we can make sure it meets your needs.
These cookies are placed on your device either by EuroGCT or by the third parties whose services we use as part of the website.
Some cookies are retained in your browser for only as long as you visit our website, while others persist for a longer specified or unspecified period.
How to block cookies
You can restrict or block cookies which are set during your use of the website by changing your browser’s settings. Some pages may not work if you completely disable cookies, but many third party cookies can be safely blocked.
Check information in your browser’s help section for specific instructions on how to manage cookies. Alternatively, websites such as All About Cookies provide comprehensive guidance.
Strictly necessary cookies
Some cookies we place on your browser ensure that the website delivers you information and services securely and optimally. You must accept these cookies to be able to make use of our online systems.
Name | Purpose | Typical content | Expires |
SESSxxxID | Authentication session to prevent having to login multiple times in one browser session. | A unique id that ties the current session to a database settings table | One week |
has_js | This helps the website understand browser Javascript functionality | An on/off flag that denotes whether or not the browser supports Javascript | On site exit |
Performance cookies
We are in the process of phasing out our use of Google Analytics to monitor visitor behaviour on our website and help us improve our information and services. Anonymous data about your visit is collected and amalgamated with that of other visitors so we can better understand how people use our website.
You can opt out of providing us with this information if you wish, with no impact on your experience of our website - opt out of Google Analytics
Provider | Name | Purpose | More info |
Google Analytics | _utma | These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. |
Third party cookies
Some website pages use third party services or software such as maps, online videos or social networking features. Many of these services may set cookies on your device. Here are some examples, with links to find out more about their privacy policies:
Provider | Name | Purpose | More info |
datr | Used by Facebook to managing the Facebook content display on this site, ie the Like button | ||
YouTube | SID, LOGIN_INFO, use_hotbox, PREF, SSID, HSID, watched_video_id_list, __utma, __utmz, demographics, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | Google sets a number of cookies on any page that includes a Youtube video. While we have no control over the cookies set by Google, they appear to include a mixture of pieces of information to measure the number and behaviour of Youtube users, including information that links your visits to our website with your Google account if you are signed in to one. Information about your use of our website, including your IP address, may be transmitted to Google and stored on servers in the United States.This cookie does not identify you personally unless you are logged into Google, in which case it is linked to your Google account. |
You can block or remove these third party cookies by altering the settings of your browser. Blocking these cookies is unlikely to impact on your experience of our website.