Privacy Notice - Industry Partnerships

A bit about us

The University of Salford is the “Data Controller” of your personal data and is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulations (“UK GDPR”). We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”).

The Industry Partnerships and Commercial Services team is committed to developing the University’s relationship with industry partners. The team works with our academics and partners to develop mutually beneficial partnerships which embed industry collaboration in all aspects of University business, from identifying opportunities for student placements, guest lectures and live briefs, to delivering knowledge exchange activities to our partners, such as consultancy, contract research and continuing professional development. 

As part of the wider Research and Enterprise Directorate, our remit is to work with industry partners to drive the development of world-leading research and enterprise activity, aligned to the University’s Innovation Strategy and Government priorities, and in doing so creating economic, social and environment impact at local, national and international level.

Why do we collect data?

We collect data about you at various stages in your relationship with us. This may be:

1. From elsewhere in the university

We share information across departments within the university to identify where we currently are, or where there may be an opportunity to work with the same contacts or organisations. This helps us to provide a joined-up service to you. 

Other departments within the University include but are not limited to:

• Careers and Employability, for information on student placements, live briefs and projects.
• Alumni Engagement and Development, for information on the organisations which Salford Alumni are employed with, their roles within them, and details on which partner organisations have supported fundraising activities by the University.
• Within the Research and Enterprise Directorate, to identify which organisations we are currently engaged with on collaborative research projects, and the nature of the project.
• Schools, Commercial Units and Research Centres, for information on commercial and research activity with partner organisations.

2. Directly from you

When you enquire about our activities, sign up for an event, or undertake a project with us.

3. Indirectly from you

We may use publicly available information obtained by a third party to create mailing lists, or to help us keep your postal address details up-to-date and to remove deceased people from our communications list.

4. From other organisations or public sources

We may use publicly available information to ensure we communicate with you in the best way for you. We use sources such as:

• Company websites and company social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We do not collect information from personal and private social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram.
• Information shared publicly on personal LinkedIn accounts.
• Online newspapers.

When do we collect your information?

Under the UK GDPR we have to have justification (“legal basis”) for obtaining your information, for our industry contacts we believe that this is:

1. Legitimate interests

To ensure that we can carry out our role to develop exceptional industry partnerships, we hold and process relevant data on our industry contacts. We ensure all of your contact information is used and stored fairly and treat it in a way that you would reasonably expect. This privacy statement outlines exactly what we do with your data and why.

2. Consent

Where we would like to contact you by email or SMS with direct marketing messages we require your permission to do so. All email and SMS communications contain an unsubscribe option so you can withdraw your consent at any time.

What sort of data do we collect?

Under the UK GDPR we are only permitted to collect the minimum amount of information needed to carry out a specific purpose. We may collect the following type of personal data about you:

1. Information that helps identify you:

• Your name
• Professional contact information (business address, business email, phone number)
• Your job title

2. Information relevant to our relationship with you

• Areas within the University where you may be interested in working with us on a project
• Any dietary requirements/allergies
• Your gender
• Whether you are a guest lecturer or sit on any boards or committees within the University
• Detail of verbal or email conversations/meetings we’ve had with you
• All communications sent to you by the University, e.g. direct marketing
• Details of any collaborative work undertaken in the past, including research activity, and its £ value to the University.

How do we use your information?

Your personal information will be used to make you aware of opportunities to collaborate with the University of Salford and to provide a record of current and previous collaborations.

We may communicate with you about the following:

• University updates and news
• Promotion of services and opportunities to collaborate
• Invitations to events
• Fundraising/sponsorship
• Research and Development opportunities

Your data is used and processed for the full range of university industry collaboration activities and all relevant communications and marketing activity (by mail, email and telephone). You can request to stop receiving communications at any time, by using the unsubscribe link at the end of every email we send to you or emailing us at ipcs@salford.ac.uk.

If you have provided us with your postal address, email address or telephone number we may contact you via these means unless you have told us you’d prefer us not to. 

The university does not collect and store any bank or credit/debit card details.

Your data will not be disclosed to external organisations other than those acting as agents for the university. We always make sure there are appropriate controls in place (as outlined below) so that your data will remain secure. The university will never sell, trade or give away your data.

Tools may be used to monitor the effectiveness of the university’s communications with you, including email tracking (which records when an email from us is opened and/or how many links are clicked within the message) and internal data analysis and reporting. This helps us to understand how our communications are being received and understood.

The university is committed to holding your data securely and treating it with sensitivity. The university will only hold the data for as long as it considers necessary for the above purposes.

How long do we keep your data for?

Data is retained for as long as it is required to perform its purpose, or for as long as is required by law. At the end of that retention period, your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised.

Who do we share your information with?

In order to meet our contractual needs or to improve our services, sometimes we share your data with trusted third parties.

Here’s the policy we apply to those organisations to keep your data safe and protect your privacy:

• We provide only the information they need to perform their specific services
• They may only use your data for the exact purposes we specify in our contract with them
• We work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected at all times
• If we stop using their services, any of your data held by them will either be deleted or rendered anonymous.

Examples of the kind of third parties we work with are:

1. Our employees, agents and contractors where there is a legitimate reason for their receiving the information, including:

• Third parties who provide mailing or data processing services, e.g. the mailing house which sends out any hard copy marketing collateral, and the company we use to maintain accurate and up-to-date data on our industry contacts
• Where we send a short biography to University event organisers and/or university employees working at that event
• Third parties who provide out of hours IT support
• Internal and external auditors

2. Government departments and agencies where we have a statutory obligation to provide information.

International data transfers

Some of the personal information we process about you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the UK for example where it is processed by staff operating outside the UK who work for us or for one of our suppliers, or where the personal data is processed by one of our suppliers who is based outside the UK or uses a storage facilities outside of the UK. Any international data transfers will comply with UK GDPR requirements.

Your choices regarding your data

It is always your choice as to whether you want to receive information about the University and opportunities to collaborate with us. If you do not want us to use your personal information in these ways or to contact you by email, phone and/or post please let us know. You can email us at any time at ipcs@salford.ac.uk specifying your requirements or use the unsubscribe link at the end of every email we send to you.

Please note that we will still need to retain skeleton information on you (name, year/s of study, course title and home address) to help ensure that we do not contact you again.

Any choices you make will overwrite any previous preferences you have informed us about.

How can you find out what information we hold on you?

You have certain rights in respect of the personal information the University holds about you. Visit our data protection, privacy and cookies page for more information about individual rights under GDPR and how you exercise them.

This statement

From time to time we may make changes to this statement because the way we are processing your personal information changes. All alterations will be posted on this page and will apply from the time we post them. 

This statement was last updated on 21 October 2021.