Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to SEFARI via the internet; any transmission is at your own risk.
Who we are
Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes (“SEFARI”,“us” or “we”) is a collective of The James Hutton Institute (“Hutton”), Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland (“BioSS”), Moredun Research Institute (“MRI”), Rowett Institute (“RI”), Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (“RGBE”) and Scotland’s Rural College (“SRUC”) and they are joint controllers over any personal data we process about you for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice.
SEFARI is committed to protecting your personal data and adheres to the principles of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when processing your personal data. This Privacy Notice outlines what personal data SEFARI collects from you through your interaction with this website www.sefari.scot and its sub-domains (the “websites”) and how we use your data. Please read through the Privacy Notice to understand how SEFARI uses and protects the information obtained from those visiting and using its websites. If you have any concerns about SEFARI’s processing of your personal data or you have a general enquiry in relation to data protection please contact the Data Protection Officer at The James Hutton Institute on DPO@hutton.ac.uk.
Through accessing our website and/or submitting an enquiry through the websites you are acknowledging that your personal information will be collected, retained and used in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Notice.
Data Protection Principles
We are committed to protecting your personal data and adhere to the principles of the UK GDPR when processing your personal data. This states that the personal data which we hold about you must be:
a) Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
b) Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
c) Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
d) Accurate and kept up to date.
e) Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
f) Kept securely.
What is personal data?
Personal Data: means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
Special Category of Data: means personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
When we use the term ‘personal data’ we mean both personal data and special category of data.
How SEFARI uses your personal data
| Purpose | Personal Data | Where do we get it from? | Legal basis | |
| 1 | To respond to enquiries | Name, email address and telephone | You | Legitimate Interest - it is in your and our interest for us to respond to such enquiry. |
| 2 | To organise events and send communications about events, activities or projects SEFARI is running or otherwise support | All personal data listed in Row 1. Plus dietary requirements. | You | Consent – when you register for an event, activity or project, you consent to us using your personal data for the purposes of organising and communicating about such events, activities or projects. We will seek separate consent for anything not strictly necessary for the organisation of the event e.g. to include your name in conference delegate packs. |
| 3 | To inform improvements to our website and for internal system administration |
How you use the website and any other information you post, email or otherwise send to us. IP addresses – we may collect information where available about your IP address, operating system and browser type. This data provides us with information about users’ browsing actions and patterns. It is used to inform improvements to the website and for internal system administration. |
You |
Legitimate Interests – any essential cookies are used on the basis that it is in our legitimate interest to use these for the proper functioning of our website. Consent – we will seek consent for non-essential cookies. |
Does SEFARI use Cookies?
Yes. Further information on how SEFARI uses cookies is available in our Cookies Policy.
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer or mobile device when you visit SEFARI’s website. They do not cause your computer any harm nor do they identify you personally, they only identify the computer being used to access the site. The cookies obtain information in relation to your use of the website. SEFARI uses this information to help us monitor the use of our website and be able to then provide you with a better user experience by remembering how you like things displayed, measuring how you use the website, ensuring the website works properly and improving navigation.
Where will SEFARI keep my data?
Your personal data will be stored on secure servers located in the UK.
Will my personal data be shared with any other organisation/third parties and if so, why?
SEFARI will not share your personal data with any other organisation or third parties without seeking your prior consent.
An exception to this would be where we are required to share your personal data in accordance with law or any regulatory requirement to which SEFARI is subject or where we are undergoing a corporate restructure.
We will not:
- sell or rent your data to third parties;
- share your data with third parties for marketing purposes
Will my personal data be shared outside of the UK?
We do not envisage transferring your personal data outside of the UK.
Where we need to share personal data outside of the UK, we will put in place appropriate safeguards to protect your personal data and any necessary supplementary measures required under Data Protection law.
Is my personal data safe?
SEFARI works hard to protect your personal data and have adopted appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep it safe from unauthorised disclosure, alteration or destruction.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to SEFARI via the internet; any transmission is at your own risk.
How can I stop SEFARI using my personal data for marketing purposes if I no longer wish to receive communications from SEFARI?
If you no longer wish to receive communication from SEFARI and would like your personal data removed from our database please e-mail our Administrator on info@sefari.scot.
How long will SEFARI retain my personal data?
SEFARI will keep your personal data for no longer than is necessary for the purpose we obtained it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements, or until such time that you withdraw your consent and exercise your right to request that SEFARI stops processing your personal data.
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.
Does SEFARI make any automated decisions about me or profile my personal data?
SEFARI does not make automated decisions about you and also does not profile your personal data.
What are my rights in relation to the personal data SEFARI holds about me?
We have summarised your rights below. More information can be found on ICO’s website. Please contact the Data Protection Officer at The James Hutton Institute on DPO@hutton.ac.uk to exercise these.
- You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data.
- You have the right to request the correction of your personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
- You can seek to restrict our processing of your personal data, ask us to rectify any personal data we hold about you or object to us processing your personal data for the purposes stated above.
- You have the right to access personal data held by us about you.
- In certain circumstances you have the right to ask us to provide you with your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format to allow you (or us on your behalf) to transmit this information to another party. More information can be found at
https://ico.org.uk - You have the right to object to us processing your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest or where we are using it for marketing purposes.
- In certain circumstances you have the right to ask us to erase the personal data we hold about you. We will consider any such request in line with UK GDPR. Please note this is not an absolute right and there may be circumstances where we choose not to delete all of the personal data we hold about you.
- If we are relying on your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time, at which point we shall stop processing your personal data in that way. Please note this does not affect the legality of our processing up to the date of your withdrawal of consent. If you withdraw consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you e.g. have you at events. To withdraw consent, please contact the Data Protection Office at DPO@hutton.ac.uk
- You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) if you think that we have infringed your rights. You can find more information about reporting a matter on the ICO’s website: https://ico.org.uk.
Third Party Links
SEFARI’s website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of third parties. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites and any services that may be accessible through them have their own privacy notices and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these notices or for any personal data that may be collected through these websites or services, such as contact and location data.
Please check these notices before you submit any personal data to these websites or use these services.
Changes to Privacy Notice
We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Notice. However any changes we may make to our privacy notice in the future will be communicated to you in some manner.
This Privacy Notice was last updated in May 2024.
Contact
Questions, comments and requests regarding this Privacy Notice are welcomed and should be addressed to: DPO@hutton.ac.uk.