The University of Westminster takes its data protection obligations very seriously. Access to any personal information you give the Library & Archives Service when requesting access to theses is subject to a staff confidentiality agreement. Access to your personal information is limited by permissions to only those staff who manage your request and related processes in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
This privacy notice explains what we do with your personal information, your rights and how we protect it.
Personal data
We will ask for limited data when you wish to access a Westminster doctoral thesis. We will usually collect only the following information from you:
- Your name
- Your contact information, including email and home address
- Optionally you can give your institutional affiliation and a statement as to why you wish to access the thesis
Use of your personal data
If you have requested access to a thesis, we hold this information to enable us to process your request and provide you with the thesis you require.
We use your personal data to:
- Contact you
- Manage access
- Monitor any alleged academic misconduct
- Compile statistics and reports to help manage and improve our operations
Legal basis for processing retention of your data
If you agree to our relevant terms of use, this agreement will form the basis of our processing of your data.
We will also compile aggregate statistics related to access to theses from time to time, in order to review and improve our operations. If we share these with colleagues, no individuals will be identifiable.
Personal details related to your request will be kept for no longer than eight years after fulfilment of your request, this is in order to monitor alleged academic misconduct.
Special category personal data
In most circumstances the Library & Archives Service will not gather or require you to give us any sensitive personal data to register or use the access scheme.
Staying in touch
We will use your contact details only in relation to fulfilment of the thesis request.
Profiling and automated decision making
The Library & Archives Service does not have any automated decision-making processes – that is, decisions made by computer without human intervention – related to thesis access.
Data transfers and sharing
None of your personal information is shared by the University with any other third party organisation, other than where this is necessary to investigate alleged academic misconduct.
Where services involve a third party processing your information, for example our use of a cloud based IT service, such services will be covered by a contract.
Your rights
If you have any questions about the service please contact: [email protected]
If you have any questions relating specifically to your personal information and your information rights, including right of access, rectification and erasure, please see the University’s data protection web pages or contact the University Information Compliance Team [email protected].
You can also contact the Information Commissioners’ Office in relation to any concerns or issue you may have with the processing of your personal information.