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uksoils Privacy Policy

Last updated: 02/12/2020

  1. Who we are

UKSOILS is a website for sharing information about soil health. It is operated by the UKSOILS consortium. The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is the data controller. 

The UKSOILS consortium is a growing group of scientific, campaigning and awareness raising organisations, all with a specialist knowledge of soil health. Current members are: UKCEH, Earthwatch, University of Sheffield, Sustainable Soils Alliance, the British Society of Soil Science and SRUC. 

UKCEH is an independent, not-for-profit research institute and is a registered Charity in England & Wales (number 1185618) and in Scotland (number SC049849), and a registered Company Limited by Guarantee in England & Wales (number 11314957). UKCEH is strategically funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation

UKCEH is the controller for all processing of personal data for the purposes of UKSOILS. The main UKCEH Privacy Notice is here

 

  1. Why are we collecting your information?

UKCEH collects your personal data in order to run this UKSOILS website and to communicate with you. When you contact us or complete an online form, we will retain the personal data you provide. 

 The personal data about you that we may collect includes: 

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Address (in full or in part)
  • Phone number
  • Website
  • Your soil health-related interests and activities

In data protection terms we are using the ‘lawful basis’ of ‘legitimate interest’ for collecting, processing and sharing your personal data. 

All data held by UKCEH is compliant with UK data protection legislation and the basis on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, is covered by the UKCEH privacy notice. 

In addition to the information we ask you to provide through the website, we also collect information automatically about visits to the site using Google Analytics and in our server logs. This does not include any personal data but does include: 

  • Your IP address 
  • The pages you request, when you request them, and how you interact with them 
  • The type of device and browser you use 

We use this information to support our work in various ways including monitoring performance, improving design, protecting against malicious behaviour and supporting funding applications. 

 

  1. Storing your personal information securely

All of your personal data that we collect will be stored securely in a database for as long as we may need to engage with you in relation to UKSOILS. We will then delete the personal information we hold about you.

 

  1. Sharing your personal information

Personal information you provide us with may be shared with: 

  • other organisations and individuals in the UKSOILS consortium* 
  • The web developer (i4 Creating; https://i4creating.com/

where it is necessary for us to operate the UKSOILS website and meet our objectives. For example, we may need to forward contact details within the consortium in order to best answer an enquiry, or to process a request to be listed on the site. 

Other than as set out above, and except where we have a legal obligation to so do, we will not share your personal data with anyone else, and we will adhere to current UK Data Protection Legislation at all times.

*Current members of the UKSOILS consortium as listed in section 1 above.

 

  1. Your rights and legal purpose 

The GDPR (General Data Protection) clearly defines individual’s rights for your data. We are collecting and processing this data under Legitimate Interest. Your rights, are as follows:   

  • Right to access, view, and edit information in a timely manner   
  • Right to be forgotten, which means being deleted from our records (you can contact the UKSOILS team at any time and request that your details be deleted).   

If you have any concerns about how your personal data is being used, we will try to answer any questions you have. The UKCEH Data Protection Officer can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. You also have the right to an effective judicial remedy against decisions of the Information Commissioner’s Office.  

 

  1. Deletion of Data

We will retain only the personal data necessary for us to effectively operate the UKSOILS website. We will review the personal data we manage annually and delete any data we deem is no longer required. Any personal data provided to us for inclusion on the UKSOILS website will be shown there until either we or the party concerned decide otherwise. In such situations, we may consider it necessary to retain some data in order to maintain communication with the party involved, or to reactivate a web page. However, we will not retain such data for more than 1 year. Data relating to any personal accounts linked with UKSOILS, e.g. the accounts of online forum members, will be retained until said account is no longer required. 

 

  1. Cookies

For the UKSOILS website to function, it may sometimes be necessary to place small amounts of information on your device, for example, your computer or mobile phone. These include small files known as cookies. They cannot be used to identify you personally.

These pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example: enabling a service to recognise your device so you don't have to give the same information several times during one task; recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don't need to do it for every web page requested; measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there's enough capacity to ensure they are fast.

To our knowledge, this website uses the following cookies:

#yootheme/cache#
Expires: at end of session
Purpose: Not specified

_ga
Expires: after 2 years
Purpose: Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.

_ga_#
Expires: after 2 years
Purpose: Used by Google Analytics to collect data on the number of times a user has visited the website as well as dates for the first and most recent visit.

NID
Expires: after 6 months
Registers a unique ID that identifies a returning user’s device. The ID may be used for targeted ads (Please note that no ads are displayed on our website; this cookie is linked to the embedded Google Map on our site)

uk-img.#
Expires: at end of session
Purpose: Not specified

 

  1. Changes to the Privacy Notice for UK Soils

This Privacy Notice may be updated from time to time. The latest version will always be available on our website (look for the link in the footer section). If changes are made to this Privacy Notice in the future, a prominent notice will be posted on the website.