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Privacy Policy for Website Users

(Version February 2022)

 

The Global Society for Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health (“GSMERH”)
Scottish Charity Number: SC051149

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Introduction

The Global Society for Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health (GSMERH) respects the privacy of visitors to their website. This Privacy Policy explains how GSMERH collects, safeguards and uses personal information on www.gsmerh.org and all subsequent webpages, emails and other digital communications under the control of GSMERH.

It is important that you read this privacy notice together with our Data Protection Policy which contains more detailed information about our data processing.

We have a separate Privacy Policy covering our Membership and this can be accessed by requesting a cop from gsmerh@in-conference.org.uk.

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1. Important information and who we are

GSMERH is the controller and responsible for this website and your personal data.
Our full details are:

Full name of legal entity: The Global Society for Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Health

Email address: gsmerh@in-conference.org.uk

Postal address: Unit 1, Q Court, Quality Street, Edinburgh EH4 5BP

Telephone number: +44 (0)131 336 4203

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO), Prof Laurence Gruer, who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO on gsmerh@inconference.org.uk

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

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2. The data we collect about you

Most data we collect are used only to help us better serve visitors to our website. Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you as follows:

  • Identity Data. This includes your name and organisation.

  • Contact Data. This includes your email address.

  • Technical Data. This includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.

  • Usage Data. This includes information about how you use our website, products and services.

  • Marketing and Communications Data. This includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your usage data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect aggregated data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
We do not collect any special categories of personal data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract or arrangement we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you, or our obligations under another arrangement. In this case, we may have to cancel the contract or arrangement you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

 

3. How we collect the data

We use different methods to collect data about you, including:

  • Direct interactions. You may give us, for example, your identity, contact details and other data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, online, via email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide, for example, when you contact us via our website or participate in the Society as a Trustee or International Council member, and in other committees, working groups or online discussion forums.

  • Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect technical data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive technical data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies.

  • Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources, such as technical data from analytics providers (such as Google) and search information providers, or identity and contact data from publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside the UK.

 

4. How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to.
Most commonly, the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data are:

  • Where we need to perform a contractual obligation we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.

  • 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.

  • Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.
 

5. The purposes for which we use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are, where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

 

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We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

 

 

6. Marketing and promotional communications

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

We may use your identity, contact information, technical, usage and profile data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you.
We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time.
Where you opt out of receiving marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of other interactions with us for other legitimate purposes.

 

7. How we share your personal data

We do not sell your details or mailing lists to third parties.

In the event that GSMERH should merge with, or be acquired by, another entity, GSMERH may merge your data then stored by GSMERH with the data of the other entity, in compliance with the law in effect at the time.
We may share your personal data with external parties where it is necessary for us to do so in order to process the data for the purposes set out in the table above.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.


8. International transfers

Some of our external third parties are based outside the UK so our interaction with them may involve a transfer of your personal data outside the UK.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring that acceptable safeguards are in place, such as only transferring your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data, or using specific contracts with third parties approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.

 

9. Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data including the right to:

  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

  • Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

o If you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
o Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
o Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
o You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machinereadable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us. You will not usually have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk).

 

10. Data retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

 

11. Keeping your details safe

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

For your protection, we recommend that you do not provide your login or password to anyone. If you become aware of any suspicious activity relating to your information, please contact us immediately on email address technical@gsmerh.org.


12. Cookies

Our website may use cookies to enhance your online experience. Use of cookies makes web surfing easier by performing certain functions, such as saving your personal preferences and completing your basic site login to access content.

In addition, small anonymous cookies are installed in your web browser. These are in place to allow our database modules to operate correctly.
If you would prefer not to receive cookies, you can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our website will not function fully or may be slower than you are used to.
We do not share cookies with any third parties and do not use them to participate in any external linking or tracking.


13. External websites

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We have no control over and are not responsible for the privacy policies of any websites other than our own.
 

14. Future changes to this policy

From time to time our policies will be updated to reflect changes to the law, new business practices and changes in the communications environment.
 

15. Further details

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, the practices of our website, or your dealings with our website, send an email technical@gsmerh.org.
Further information on how we process your personal data including on data security, data retention
and lawful processing bases, please refer to our Data Protection Policy.

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