University Alliance is committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal data.  “Personal data” is information relating to you as a living, identifiable individual.  We refer to this as “your data”.

This notice explains what personal data University Alliance holds about its staff, programme contacts and participants, and others (“you”).  We set out how we use your data internally, how we share it, how long we keep it and what your legal rights are in relation to it.

This notice does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services.

For the parts of your personal data that you supply to us to us, this notice also explains the basis on which you are required or requested to provide the information.  For the parts of your personal data that we generate about you, or that we receive from others, it explains the source of the data.

There are some instances where we process your personal data on the basis of your consent.  This notice sets out the categories and purposes of data where your consent is needed.

How does the law regulate our use of personal data?

Data protection law requires us, as data controller for your data:

• To process your data in a lawful, fair and transparent way;
• To only collect your data for explicit and legitimate purposes;
• To only collect data that is relevant, and limited to the purpose(s) we have told you about;
• To ensure that your data is accurate and up to date;
• To ensure that your data is only kept as long as necessary for the purpose(s) we have told you about;
• To ensure that appropriate security measures are used to protect your data.

Our Contact Details

If you need to contact us about your data, please write to our Data Protection Officer at University House, 109-117 Middlesex Street, London E1 7JF, or email

What personal data we hold about you and how we use it

We may hold and use a range of data about you at different stages of our relationship with you.  We might receive this data from you; we might create it ourselves, or we might receive it from someone else (for example if someone provides us with a reference about you).

We collect different data about difference people. Categories of data that we collect, store and use include (but are not limited to):

• Staff and officeholders:
• Programme participants
• Commercial contacts

The lawful basis on which we process your data

The law requires that we provide you with information about the lawful basis on which we process your personal data, and for what purpose(s).

Most commonly, we will process your data on the following lawful grounds:

• Where it is necessary to perform the contract we have entered into with you;
• Where necessary to comply with a legal obligation;
• Where it is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest;
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

We may also use your personal information, typically in an emergency, where this is necessary to protect your vital interests, or someone else’s vital interests.  In a small number of cases where other lawful bases do not apply, we will process your data on the basis of your consent.

How we share your data

We do not, and will not, sell your data to third parties.  We will only share it with third parties if we are allowed or required to do so by law.

How long we keep your data

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

Details of expected retention periods for the different categories of your personal information that we hold are set out in our Retention Guidelines.

Retention periods may increase as a result of legislative changes, e.g. an increase in limitation periods for legal claims would mean that University Alliance is required to retain certain categories of personal data for longer.

Your legal rights over your data

Subject to certain conditions and exception set out in UK data protection law, you have:

• The right to request access to a copy of your data, as well as to be informed of various information about how your data is being used;
• The right to have any inaccuracies in your data corrected, which may include the right to have any incomplete data completed;
• The right to have your personal data erased in certain circumstances;
• The right to have the processing of your data suspended, for example if you want us to establish the accuracy of the data we are processing.
• The right to receive a copy of data you have provided to us, and have that transmitted to another data controller.
• The right to object to any direct marketing (for example, email marketing or phone calls) by us, and to require us to stop such marketing.
• The right to object to the processing of your information if we are relying on a “legitimate interest” for the processing or where the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest.
• The right to object to any automated decision-making about you which produces legal effects or otherwise significantly affects you.
• Where the lawful basis for processing your data is consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. This will not affect the validity of any lawful processing of your data up until the time when you withdrew your consent.  You may withdraw your consent by emailing us at this address.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights in relation to your data as processed by University Alliance please contact our Data Protection Officer.  Some of your rights are not automatic, and we reserve the right to discuss with you why we might not comply with a request from you to exercise them.

You can read a full version of our privacy notice here.