Privacy Policy
What is the purpose of this document?
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (“Imperial“) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information.
This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you during and after your relationship with us, in accordance with the applicable data protection legislation the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations (the “GDPR“) and Imperial’s Data Protection Policy.
Imperial is a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.
This notice applies when you contact us via https://scientists-making-a-difference.com/ and/or we have a relationship with you. This notice does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services. We may update this notice at any time.
It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information.
Data protection principles
We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:
- Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
- Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
- Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
- Accurate and kept up to date.
- Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
- Kept securely.
The kind of information we hold about you
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
There are “special categories” of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection.
We may collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:
- Personal contact details such as name and email addresses.
- Information about your use of our website and any communications you might send us.
- The institution or school where you are based and its address.
How is your personal information collected?
We collect personal information about you directly when you sign up to the website, submit our contact form, when you use the website and/or when you interact with the team.
How we will use information about you and the legal basis for processing your data under the GDPR
We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.*
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.**
- Where you have consented to the processing.***
Situations in which we will use your personal information
The situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below. We have indicated by [asterisks] the purpose or purposes for which we are processing or will process your personal information.
- To provide you with the information and services that you request from us***
- To ensure website and information security*
- To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer or mobile device.**
Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information.
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
How we use particularly sensitive personal information
We will not request or plan to process special category data unless you explicitly provide it to us for specified purposes.
Embedded content from other websites
Pages on this site include embedded video content from YouTube. We use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), which means YouTube will not store information about visitors on this page unless they choose to play a video.
If you play an embedded video, YouTube may collect data about you, set cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the content — including if you have an account and are logged in to YouTube at the time.
To find out more about how YouTube may process your personal data, please visit their dedicated privacy page: Privacy Policy – Privacy & Terms – Google.
Automated decision-making
We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means, however we will notify you in writing if this position changes.
Data sharing
We may have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers and other entities within the Imperial group.
We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law.
We may transfer your personal information outside the EU. If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.
Why might you share my personal information with third parties?
We may share your personal information with third parties where required by law, where it is necessary to administer the relationship with you or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.
Which third-party service providers process my personal information?
“Third parties” includes third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents) and other entities within the Imperial group. The following third-party services are used on this website:
- Web3Forms — used to process and deliver contact form submissions to the Scientists Making a Difference team. When you submit the contact form, your name, email address, school address and message are transmitted to Web3Forms’ servers (hosted on AWS in the US East Region) and forwarded to our inbox. Web3Forms does not permanently store form submissions; server logs are deleted periodically. To assist with spam prevention, submitter IP addresses and email addresses may also be passed to Web3Forms’ spam-filtering sub-processors, CleanTalk and Akismet. For further information, see the Web3Forms Privacy Policy.
- Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager — used to collect anonymised usage data about how visitors interact with the website. See the Cookie Policy section below for further detail.
- OneTrust — used to manage cookie consent preferences on the website.
How secure is my information with third-party service providers and other entities in our group?
All our third-party service providers and other entities in the Imperial group are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
Transferring information outside the UK/EU
We transfer personal information to the United States of America in the following circumstances:
- Web3Forms — contact form submissions are transmitted through Web3Forms’ US-based servers (AWS, US East Region). Web3Forms is incorporated in India and does not currently publish a UK GDPR-compliant Data Processing Agreement or Standard Contractual Clauses. We are in the process of reviewing this transfer and will update this notice accordingly.
- Google Analytics — anonymised website usage data is processed by Google on US-based infrastructure. Google participates in the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and relies on Standard Contractual Clauses as a transfer safeguard for UK data transfers.
There is not a UK adequacy decision in respect of the United States of America. Where adequate safeguards are not yet in place, we have assessed the transfer as low risk given the limited nature of the data processed (contact enquiries only) and the short retention period applied by Web3Forms. We will continue to monitor this position.
Data security
We have put in place measures to protect the security of your information. Third parties will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure.
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.
Data retention
How long will you use my information for?
We will retain your data for as long as you continue to engage with the group and/or have a profile with the website.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.
Rights of access, correction, erasure, and restriction
Your duty to inform us of changes
It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your relationship with us.
Your rights in connection with personal information
Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:
- Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”).
- Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you.
- Request erasure of your personal information.
- Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
- Request the restriction of processing of your personal information.
If you want to action any such request, please contact the team and/or the College’s Data Protection Officer in writing. See ‘Contact us’ below.
Right to withdraw consent
In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact the team and/or the College’s Data Protection Officer. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.
Cookie policy
Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to help it function, understand how you use the site, and to deliver content. We use OneTrust to manage your cookie preferences — you can update your choices at any time via the cookie settings link in the footer.
The table below lists the cookies currently active on this site.
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential for the website to work and cannot be switched off.
| Cookie name | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
OptanonConsent | OneTrust | Records your cookie consent choices and preferences across categories. | 1 year |
OptanonAlertBoxClosed | OneTrust | Set once you have dismissed the cookie banner so it does not re-appear on every page visit. | 1 year |
Performance / analytics cookies
These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with the website. All information collected is aggregated and anonymous. They are only set with your consent.
| Cookie name | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Google Analytics (via GTM) | Registers a unique ID to generate statistical data on how you use the site. | 2 years |
_ga_[ID] | Google Analytics (via GTM) | Used by Google Analytics 4 to persist session state. | 2 years |
_gid | Google Analytics (via GTM) | Registers a unique ID to generate statistical data on how you use the site. | 24 hours |
_gat | Google Analytics (via GTM) | Used to throttle the request rate to Google Analytics. | 1 minute |
Functional / third-party cookies
We use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced embed mode (youtube-nocookie.com), so no YouTube cookies are dropped simply by visiting a page with an embedded video. YouTube cookies may only be set if you actively choose to play a video, at which point YouTube’s own cookie policy applies. We recommend reviewing how Google uses data from sites that use their services for further detail.
You can manage or withdraw your cookie consent at any time using the Cookie Settings link in the footer of this website, or by adjusting your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the site.
Contact us
When you submit the contact form on this site, your name, email address, school address and message will be collected and used to respond to your enquiry. By submitting the form you confirm you have read and understood this privacy notice. A link to this privacy notice is also displayed adjacent to the contact form on the website.
Scientists Making a Difference Team
Please contact smad@imperial.ac.uk if you have any queries regarding this notice or the website in general.
Data Protection Officer
We have appointed a Data Protection Officer to oversee compliance with this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact the Data Protection Officer at:
Imperial College London
Data Protection Officer
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2AZ
Email: dpo@imperial.ac.uk
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.
Changes to this privacy notice
We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.
Last updated: June 2026