At the Scottish Longitudinal Study Development & Support Unit (SLS-DSU) protecting your personal data is a priority. In line with the new GDPR compliance the following privacy policy intends to show transparency on how we handle your personal data.

What will you do with my data?

We will only use your email address to contact you, and we will securely retain any information which you provide us with, for the:

1. legitimate interests of administration and outputs of your SLS project(s)  – if you have SLS project(s) and processing your application for Approved Reseacher accreditation.
2. legitimate interests of sending you news items and newsletters directly related to the SLS. This is likely to involve about 4-5 news mails a year.

How will you process my data?

We email you from a secure device via Outlook 365, including SharePoint.

When you contact us via the SLS, LSCS, CALLS or Digitising Scotland websites your email is directed to us via a web hosting company, MTC Ltd, Shed 26, Unit 35, City Quay, Dundee, UK DD1 3JA.   MTC Ltd servers are located in the Centro data centre in London.  When you press send, your message and contact details will be sent directly to the administrator at SLS. Your personal data will not be stored on the website server; will not be shared with others outside of SLS; will only be used for the purpose of communicating with you in response to your email and any future communications in relation to SLS. Further information on MTC can be found here

• Project Applications

The information you provide in your SLS Project Application is used for the legitimate interests of administering your project application and for the reasons of meeting our contractual agreement with you in providing the necessary information for you to carry out your SLS research.  In addition, your personal data is used  to meet our contractual agreements with the National Records of Scotland.   Your project application is electronically sent to the SLS Research Board via Outlook 365.  The members of the Research Board view your application on their secure institutional devices and destroy the application after submitting their comments.  The data we store from your SLS Project Application is stored electronically on the University of Edinburgh’s Server (Microscoft European servers), the National Records of Scotland/Scottish Government server as well as on a non-internet connected server based in the National Records of Scotland.  A hard copy is retained in a locked cabinet in a secure room in the SLS-Development & Support Unit.  On signing our Census Confidentiality Form your name is logged with our colleagues in the National Records of Scotland (NRS) Further information on NRS privacy policy can be found here

Your Project Application will be retained by the Longitudinal Studies Centre for Scotland, SLS-DSU for a period of 10 years, in case you or your research team wish to undertake further analysis, then destroyed.

• Researcher Applications

The information you provide in your Researcher Application is used for the legitimate interests of administering your researcher application.  Your application is viewed by an appropriate member of the SLS team and approved of by either the SLS Project Manager or, in his/her absence a senior NRS member of the SLS/NRS team.  Your researcher application will be retained for a period of 10 years then destroyed.

• SLS Undertaking Form/Synthetic Data Undertaking Form

A hard copy of the Undertaking Form and any hard copies signed by additional members of your research team are stored in a project folder in a locked filing cabinet in the SLS-DSU (which is a locked room).

An electronic copy is held in your project folder on the SLS-DSU secure Sharepoint site with access permitted only to SLS-DSU staff.  A copy is also stored in the Project Log on the non-internet connected SLS network with restricted access to key members of SLS staff.

• Census Confidentiality Undertaking Form

The signed tear-off slip is mailed internally by the SLS NRS PM to an individual in NRS to be logged on to the NRS system.

• SLS Newsletter

As a SLS Researcher you are added to the SLS newsletter.  The newsletter is circulated via Outlook 365, a maximum of 5 times per year.  The newsletter contains information regarding the SLS which may be of interest to you.  You can opt out of receiving the newsletter at any time.  The newsletter mailing list is stored in the University of Edinburgh secure mailing list system (mlist) on the University of Edinburgh servers.  You will remain on the mailing list until you unsubscribe.

• Twitter

When you provide us with your Twitter name, this will be saved in our Twitter account. If, at one of our training or other events you have signed a consent form for us to contact you and provided your Twitter name, this hard copy will be stored securely in a locked cabinet in a secure room.

• Website

When you contact us via the LSCS, SLS, CALLS or Digitising Scotland websites your email is directed to us via a web hosting company, MTC Ltd, Shed 26, Unit 35, City Quay, Dundee, UK DD1 3JA.   MTC Ltd servers are located in the Centro data centre in London. When you press send, your message and contact details will be sent directly to the administrator at SLS. Your personal data will not be stored on the website server; will not be shared with others outside of SLS; will only be used for the purpose of communicating with you in response to your email and any future communications in relation to SLS. Further information on MTC can be found here

• Projects & Outputs on the SLS Website

When your project proposal has been accepted as an SLS Project we will ask your consent (on the application form) to list your project on the SLS website.  We will only list your name and institution and not your contact details. As you produce final output from your research, we will ask your (signed) consent to add the output to the SLS website and ask you to supply us with a date when the output can be made live.  The information will remain on the website for the duration of the lifetime of the SLS website.

Who is responsible for my data at SLS-DSU?

The University of Edinburgh, Longitudinal Studies Centre for Scotland, Ladywell House, Ladywell Road, Edinburgh EH12 7TF is the data controller for this data. You can contact our UoE Data Protection Officer for more info at dpo@ed.ac.uk or by telephone on 0301 651 4114.

You can read more about your rights and our responsibilities in relation to your data on the University of Edinburgh’s website