1. 1. Introduction

The Royal Society has commissioned the Careers Research & Advisory Centre (CRAC) to undertake a qualitative research project to understand the low level of disclosure of disability amongst scientists in the academic workforce, why this occurs and how it might be addressed.

As such CRAC is acting as the data processor (as defined in data protection legislation) and the Royal Society is the data controller in respect of the personal data collected within the scope of this privacy notice. We stress that the Royal Society will not have access to personal data that we collect, although its approach to privacy and safeguarding of personal information can be found here:

https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/privacy-policy/

The Royal Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Programme Manager Lori Frecker is responsible for this research project: lori.frecker@royalsociety.org

1. 2. Uses of your information

This is a qualitative project, but in order to construct a representative sample of participants we are asking those interested in taking part to complete a brief pre-interview questionnaire, so that we can select an appropriate range of participants. The interviews in this project will collect responses to understand individuals’ experiences of and attitudes to disability within the sciences.

Findings from these interviews will be summarised in a report that we (CRAC) will write. Its purpose is to assist the Royal Society in understanding the lived experiences of disabled scientists and barriers to disclosing disabilities, as well as to inform any interventions the Society could make to address these barriers. In that report, all data will be anonymised and at no point will the Royal Society view or have access to the raw data.

1. 3. Legal basis for using your personal information

Under data protection legislation, a legal basis is required to be able to process your personal information for the purposes set out above. The collection and use of your personal information will be based on you providing your explicit consent.

Withdrawal of consent: Consent must be a clear positive action that you have given your agreement to the use of your personal information, and consent can also be withdrawn at any point if you are no longer happy with the use of your personal information for a specific reason. If you to wish to withdraw consent, please do so in writing to rachel.handforth@crac.org.uk

Once consent is withdrawn, we will destroy all relevant personal information unless we are relying on a different legal basis to justify keeping your personal information. If that is the case, we will tell you in writing. However, withdrawing your consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before you withdrew it.

1. 4. What personal information we will collect

The personal information we will collect and use as part of this project is set out below, though we may also collect other personal information relating to your experiences as a disabled scientist.

• •  Name
• •  Disability type (compulsory in order to contextualise responses)
• •  Gender (optional)
• •  Employment circumstances (optional)
• •  Your telephone number and email address (optional)

1. 5. Storage and sharing of personal information

During data collection, the data are stored in an encrypted state.  

The information you submit in the pre-interview questionnaire will be compiled by CRAC and aggregate-level results from survey responses may be included in our research report. You will not be identifiable from any such outputs and pseudonyms will be used. We will not pass your information to any other organisation except where required to do so by law.

1. 6. Your rights over your personal information

Once your personal information has been collected, you have certain rights in relation to that personal information that may be exercised. You have the right to:

• •  Request access to your personal information (and receive a copy of it)
• •  Request correction of any inaccurate personal information held about you
• •  Request for your personal information to be deleted
• •  Withdraw your consent for us to use your personal information

All these rights have certain limitations depending on the request and the purpose for which we are holding your personal information. To exercise any of these rights, in the first instance please contact robin.mellors-bourne@crac.org.uk 

1. 7. How we protect your personal information

CRAC has a range of security measures to protect your personal information:

• •  All staff are required to undertake training in data protection and information security on joining the organisation and then on an annual basis;
• •  Formal information security policies that must be read and understood by all staff;
• •  Personal information is only available to those members of staff who require access as part of their role;
• •  Our information and data systems are accredited through the Cyber Essentials scheme and we are shortly to obtain the ISO 27001 standard on information security.

1. 8. How long we will hold your personal information

We are only able to retain your personal information for as long as it is needed for the purpose(s) for which it was collected. Personal information you have shared will be retained by CRAC no longer than three months after the conclusion of this project (currently expected to be before 30 April 2020).

1. 9. Complaints about the use of your personal information

If you are unhappy with the way in which your personal information has been handled, please contact us via rachel.handforth@crac.org.uk and we will try to resolve your issue. If we are not able to resolve the issue to your satisfaction, you can make a complaint to the data protection supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which can be contacted at:

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

Tel: 0303 123 1113; Email: casework@ico.org.uk

1. 10. Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notices under regular review and we will inform you of any changes to this notice in writing.

This privacy notice was last updated on 06 February 2020.