ARI Postgraduate Research Recruitment policy notice

Information you need to know

The Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI) is part of Liverpool John Moores University. See further information on the institution.

This information applies to anyone who is applying for a PhD position with ARI. If you enrol and become a student, we will collect further information which is explained in our Student Privacy Notice.

Liverpool John Moores University is the Data Controller.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at DPO@ljmu.ac.uk

LJMU takes your privacy very seriously. This privacy notice explains how we use your personal information and your rights regarding that information. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use your data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

For information about how the wider university uses personal data please see the Privacy Notice section of our website.

What information are we collecting?

We collect your contact details, geographical information and information on your interests and qualifications that relate to our courses.

In addition, you may be asked to volunteer information such as you age, ethnic group, disability’s, and gender.

Why are we collecting your data and what is the legal basis for this?

LJMU will collect personal data from you for several reasons, and will at all times do so in compliance with the principles of the GDPR and for one of the legal basis set out in Article 6 of the Regulation.

Where you have submitted an application your personal data will be processed in terms of Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR as it is necessary for the performance of a contract or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (i.e. our responsibility to provide you with the information requested or administer your attendance at an event you have registered for).

LJMU may undertake equality, diversity and inclusion tracking activities and market research with data obtained from applicants. Where this is the case we will do so under our legitimate interests, and only where our processing does not override your interests and fundamental rights in compliance with Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. Such processing will not be used to make determinations of any kind about individuals. It will be used solely by LJMU for equal opportunities benchmarking and market research.

Who has access to this data?

Your application data will only be processed by staff in the ARI administrative team and service colleagues in other departments where they are required to assist you.

Anonymous equality monitoring data will only be processed by staff in the ARI – EDI committee, who will use this for reporting. We will not normally pass your personal data any other third parties without your consent unless required to do so by law.

How does the university protect your data?

The University prioritises security of your personal data at all times and it will be handled and stored strictly in line with the University’s Information Security Policy.

The ARI will hold your data on the LJMU secure Microsoft OneDrive account. The University takes its obligations with your data very seriously and will ensure that all appropriate safeguards and security provisions are in place and full compliance with its third party agreements and privacy notice are monitored.

For how long does the university keep your data?

We will keep your information only for as long as we need it to provide you with information or services you have requested (notionally the academic year of interest + two years) to manage your relationship with us, to comply with the law or to ensure we do not communicate with you after you have asked us not to. When we no longer need information, we will always dispose of it securely. (Anonymised statistics may be retained permanently.)

Your rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

• access and obtain a copy of your data on request, this could be in a portable electronic format
• require the university to change incorrect or incomplete data if you think that it is inaccurate or out of date
• require the university to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary or legally required for the purposes of processing

You will be asked for your explicit consent to allow us to store your personal data and you have a right to withdraw that consent at any time.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Data Protection Officer at dpo@ljmu.ac.uk.

What if you do not provide data?

We will only be able to consider your application if you provide us with sufficient personal data.

If however you do not wish to provide contact information at the time, we can still talk to you about studying at ARI.

If you are asked for personal data for the purpose of monitoring equality, diversity and inclusion, you do not have to provide this to us, Your decision whether or not to volunteer this data anonymously it will have no impact on any decisions we make about your application.

Transfers of data outside the UK

Generally, we do not send your personal data outside the UK. However, in some specific cases we may transfer the personal data we collect to countries outside the UK in order to perform our contract with you/or a contract with another organisation that requires your personal data i.e. a collaboration agreement with a university based outside of the UK. Where we do this, we will ensure that your personal information is protected by way of an ‘adequacy regulation’ with the UK or by putting alternative appropriate measures in place to ensure that your personal information is treated by those third parties in a way that is consistent with and which respects the UK laws on data protection, for example model contractual clauses, data sharing/data processing agreement and binding corporate rules (where applicable).

Automated decision making

We will not make any decisions about you automatically using a computer, based on your personal data. All decisions affecting you will be taken by a human.

How to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office?

You have the right to complain to The Information Commissioner if you believe that our processing of your personal data does not meet our data protection obligations. The Information Commissioner can be contacted:

Post: Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK95AF.
Telephone: 0303 123 1113.
Email: contact can be made by accessing www.ico.org.uk.