‘Cultures of Disability research group and Manchester Metropolitan University are committed to looking after any information that is made available to us when you visit our website in accordance with data protection law. 

This notice explains who we are, how and why we collect personal information about you when you visit our website, what personal data is collected, our purposes and lawful bases for processing, and how you can exercise your privacy rights.

Please do read this notice to understand our practices and if you have any questions please contact us using the contact details provided below. Other privacy notices relating to specific activities (registering with Eventbrite; recording lectures;  photographing and recording events) are available are on the website https://culturesofdisability.com or can be requested from r.oates@mmu.ac.uk. 

Who we are

We are a group of researchers, staff and students, located at Manchester Metropolitan University (also known as MMU).   Manchester Metropolitan University is an exempt charity under Schedule 2 to the Charities Act 1993 (amended by the Charities Act 2011). MMU is a higher education institution which provides teaching, education, research and associated services. The Principal Investigator in this project is Dr Rosamund Oates (r.oates@mmu.ac.uk), a member of staff at Manchester Metropolitan University.  Dr. Oates, as an employee of MMU is the Data Controller in respect of any personal data which is collected during your engagement with the website https://culturesofdisability.com

We manage your personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the University’s Data Protection Policy. 

Personal Data We Process 

Cookie Information: 

Further information available here ‘Cultures of Disability Cookies Policy’  <to add final link> and: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/cookie-policy 

We will automatically collect, store, and use the following categories of information when you browse and search our site if you have consented to our use of cookies.  This includes: 

• Technical information, for example, the type of device (and its unique device identifier) you use to access our site, the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, mobile network information and platform
• Information about your visit to our site including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL), clickstream to, through and from the website (including date and time), pages you viewed, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs) and methods to browse away from the page. 

Information collected via our forms. 

The majority of the personal information we collect about you when you engage with the website https://culturesofdisability.com will be obtained via our forms (registering for Eventbrite, or subscribing via Mailchimp) or if you contact us by e-mail. We may ask for some personal details if you wish to access some of our services or ask us to respond to your requests, for example: 

• Registering to attend an online lecture 
• Registering to attend an in-person event 
• Subscribing to email communications 

This information is collected directly from you and may include the following: 

• Biographical information (name, title, gender and age). 
• Contact details including email address and postcode. 
• Current interests and preferences 
• Attendance at events hosted by ‘Cultures of Disability’
• Accessibility requirements for online or in person events. 
• Records of communication between yourself and staff or students representing the ‘Cultures of Disability’ research group

When you provide us with your contact details you will be asked whether you wish to receive any further communications from us. 

When you sign up to the mailing list on the website https://culturesofdisability.com you will be asked to confirm your request via an automated email to ensure that consent is specific, informed and demonstrable.   If you wish to unsubscribe, you will find details of how to unsubscribe on https://culturesofdisability.com.  In addition, every email will include an ‘unsubscribe’ function.   You may also contact r.oates@mmu.ac.uk. 

We will ensure that all personal information you supply is held in accordance with data protection law. We do not sell or otherwise transfer personal data to any third parties unless you have consented to this or this is permitted by law.

The ‘sign-up’ function is operated by an external party, Mail Chimp. All personal data will be stored by MailChimp and protected by cryptographic protocol TLS 1.2 or higher with further security measures for databases. The PI (Rosamund Oates) will not have direct access to the email addresses of subscribers.   You can find details of MailChimp’s privacy policies here: https://www.intuit.com/privacy/statement/

The Purposes of the Processing 

Your Information will enable us to:

Cookie information – We process your information for purposes arising from your use of the website, for example, to ensure that we understand who uses our site and how our site is used and to improve our site and ensure it is secure. This processing occurs because it is necessary to meet our legitimate interests in operating and improving the website, analysing its use, and ensuring its security.

Lawful basis: This processing occurs because it is necessary to meet our legitimate interests in operating and improving the website, analysing its use, and ensuring its security. We also rely upon your consent collected when you accept use of our cookies.  

Information collected via our forms – We process your personal information collected via our website forms primarily to service your request of the Cultures of Disability research group at MMU. For example, to facilitate your attendance at a University event and respond to your request to receive information from us. 

If you chose to ‘subscribe’ we will send you communications about 

• Upcoming events hosted by ‘Cultures of Disability: Past and Present’
• Blogs posted on the website https://culturesofdisability.com 
• New videos  posted on the website https://culturesofdisability.com 
• News about the Cultures of Disability research group 
• We may also contact you to request information and feedback about events you have been to or the website. 

Lawful basis: Where we are servicing or responding to a request which you have made of the University via one of our forms we rely upon the legitimate interests lawful basis in order to respond to your request. We rely upon your consent to send you marketing communications such as newsletters.

The recipients or categories of recipients of the personal data 

We may share your data with third parties who provide services on our behalf, such as those who help us to operate the website or maintain the mailing list. (This includes, but is not limited to MailChimp and Freeside Media).  All our third-party service providers are bound by the terms of a contract and are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your data in line with our policies. We do not allow them to use your data for their own purposes. We permit them to process your data only for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. 

We may also share your personal data with third parties if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our site terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our site, our users, and others. 

Where your data is shared with third parties, we will seek to share the minimum amount necessary. 

The right to withdraw consent. 

If we have collected and process your personal information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

 Please use unsubscribe links within our communications or refer to the specific privacy notice information which was provided when the University collected your consent for the most appropriate contact information. 

You may also contact r.oates@mmu.ac.uk, the ‘Contact Us’ function on the website https://culturesofdisability.com or the email address, manmetuni@mmu.ac.uk. 

Your rights in respect of the processing 

The GDPR provides data subject the following data subject rights: 

• The right to be informed, this privacy notice assists with fulfilling these obligations. 
• The right of access
• The right to rectification 
• The right to erasure
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to object. 

Please note, that these rights apply in certain circumstances, for example according to the lawful basis utilised by the University. The right of access to personal information held about you exists in order to be aware of, and verify, the lawfulness of the processing. Please use the contact information below to exercise these rights. 

Contacting Us:

For questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice, or our use of your personal information, please contact the relevant academic member of staff in the first instance.  This is r.oates@mmu.ac.uk or by using the ‘contact us’ details on the website www.culturesofdisability.com.   

Our Data Protection Officer can also be contacted using dataprotection@mmu.ac.uk, by calling 0161 247 3884 or in writing to: Data Protection Officer, Legal Services, All Saints Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, M15 6BH. 

Right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. 

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as the supervisory authority in respect of the processing of your personal data. We would encourage you to expend our internal complaints procedure through our initial contact and the University Data Protection Officer, prior to contacting the ICO. Please contact casework@ico.org.uk, or telephone 03031231113.  For further contact information please see https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us.