Privacy Policy

https://community.bsg.ox.ac.uk (“This site”) is operated by the University of Oxford. We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information (‘personal data’).

This policy (together with our terms of use https://community.bsg.ox.ac.uk/page/terms-of-service, together with any other documents referred to in it) describes how we collect and use your personal data during your use of our site, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and associated data protection legislation.

Over time, you will be able to use the Blavatnik Community Platform website to connect with alumni, staff and students of the Blavatnik School of Government. It will offer a range of community tools including secure access to directories of members, a messaging service, the opportunity to join virtual groups and more, access to benefits and services and more opportunities to connect actively with old friends and new.

Who is using your personal data?

The University of Oxford1 is the “data controller" for the information that you provide to us when visiting this website. This means that we decide how to use it and are responsible for looking after it in accordance with the GDPR.

Access to your personal data within the University will be provided to those staff who need to view it as part of their work in connection with the operation of this website. It will also be shared with the third parties described in Section H.

Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. We may update this policy at any time.

1 The University’s legal title is the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford

By visiting our site you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

GLOSSARY

Where we refer in this policy to your ‘personal data’, we mean any recorded information that is about you and from which you can be identified. It does not include data where your identity has been removed (anonymous data).

Where we refer to the ‘processing’ of your personal data, we mean anything that we do with that information, including collection, use, storage, disclosure or retention.

Types of data we collect about you

We will collect, store, and use the following categories of data when you use our site:

Data you give us. You may give us data about you including:

  • Information that you provide by filling in forms on any part of the Blavatnik Community Platform website (our site). This includes biographical, educational and personal information provided at the time of registering to use our site, subscribing to our service, posting material or requesting further services.

  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.

  • We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes,

    although you do not have to respond to them.

  • We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our site.

Data we collect about you. If you consent to our use of cookies

  •  If you visit our site, we will automatically collect certain 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.

  • We will automatically collect 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 used to browse away from the page.

  • Details of transactions you carry out through our site.

When we collect your data

We will collect the vast majority of data about you when you register to use our site, correspond with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise, participate in discussion boards or other social media functions on our site, enter a competition, promotion or survey, when you report a problem with our site.

When you visit our site we may also automatically collect technical information about your visit from your computer.

How we use your data

We process your data for one or more of the following reasons:

To send you marketing or other types of communication by email e.g. Information about events or the activities of the Blavatnik School of Government.

We do this only where you have specifically indicated that you consent to receive such communications, for example, by updating your notification preferences. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at [email protected] In this event, we will stop any processing as soon as we can. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before your withdrawal of consent and you may no longer be able to use the site in the same way you did before.

For the purposes for which you use this website e.g.

  • To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer or other device.

  • To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes.

  • To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so.

  • To update the information held about you in DARS.

  • To notify you about changes to our service.

    We will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another related reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent to use it for that new purpose.

    Please note that we may process your data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

    Marketing

    We would like to send you information by email about products, services and opportunities which may be of interest to you.

    We will not provide your data to other businesses so they can use it for marketing purposes.

    We will only ask whether you would like us to send you marketing messages when you tick the relevant boxes when you sign in to our site for the first time. You will have the opportunity to clearly set out what messages you wish to receive by ticking these boxes.

    You can also manage your preferences by updating or changing your privacy settings of your account.

Sharing your data with third parties

We may share your data with third parties who provide services on our behalf, such as for administrative purposes and for the running of our site.

All our third-party service providers 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.

To ensure that your data remains up to date across University operated services and systems we will periodically synchronise your personal data with the University of Oxford’s DARS system. (see the DARS data protection policy here: https://www.alumniweb.ox.ac.uk/oao/dataprotection)

You will find a Directory facility on the site, which is basically a searchable directory of all of the current members of the Blavatnik Community. When you register for the Blavatnik School of Government Community Platform, as a default your name(s), educational and professional details will display in the directory for all of your Communities.

You can change the privacy settings related to:

  • Your country of origin,

  • Your CV

  • Your contact details.

    You can choose to share more information adding more details to your profile, however you cannot chose to make these additional fields private (see 'Opting-out' below). In broad terms, the additional information that you can share will be:

  • Personal details, such as: former surname, interests.

  • Education details, such as: first degree name, other college(s) and degree

    name(s)/subject(s), University club/society involvements

  • Employment details, such as: employer name, job title, sector, employment

    location (city/country), willingness to be contacted about being a buddy.

We encourage you to share further fields, such as degree/program type, degree/program start and end dates, and employment information; the more fields you share, the easier it will be for those in similar constituencies to find you.

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.

Where we store or use your data

We may store data collected by the website manually or electronically. The data is stored on our secure servers within the European Economic Area (EEA) and/or in our premises within the UK.

There may be occasions when we transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), for example when your publicly shared data is viewed by users operating outside of the EEA . Such transfers will only take place if one of the following applies:

  • the country receiving the data is considered by the EU to provide an adequate level of data protection;

  • the organisation receiving the data is covered by an arrangement recognised by the EU as providing an adequate standard of data protection e.g. transfers to companies that are certified under the EU US Privacy Shield;

  • the transfer is governed by approved contractual clauses;

  • the transfer has your consent;

  • the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps requested by you prior to entering into that contract; or

  • the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with another person, which is in your interests.

    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 data transmitted to the website and any transmission is at your own risk.

    Third party websites

    Our site contains links to and from various third-party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

    Retaining your data

    We will only retain your data for as long as we need it to fulfil our purposes, including any relating to legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

    Your rights

    Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

  • Request access to your data (commonly known as a "subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of your data and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

  • Request correction of your data. This enables you to ask us to correct any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you.

  • Request erasure of your data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove your data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your data where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).

  • Object to processing of your data where we are relying on our legitimate interests (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 data for direct marketing purposes.]

  • Request the restriction of processing of your data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your data, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.

  • Request the transfer of your data to another party.

    Depending on the circumstances and the nature of your request it may not be possible for us to do what you have asked, for example, where there is a statutory or contractual requirement for us to process your data and it would not be possible to fulfil our legal obligations if we were to stop. However, where you have consented to the processing (for example, where you have asked us to contact you for marketing purposes) you can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing us [email protected] In this event, we will stop the processing as soon as we can. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before your withdrawal of consent and you may no longer be able to use the site in the same way as you did before.

    If you want to exercise any of the rights described above or are dissatisfied with the way we have used your information, you should contact the University’s Information Compliance Team at [email protected]. The same email address may be used to contact the University’s Data Protection Officer. We will seek to deal with your request without undue delay, and in any event in accordance with the requirements of the GDPR. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise.

    If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

 

Cookies

Our site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site and also allows us to improve our site. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them see our Cookie policy. https://community.bsg.ox.ac.uk/page/cookies-policy

Changes to this policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Contact

If you wish to raise any queries or concerns about this privacy policy please contact us at [email protected] or Alumni Department,
Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG,
United Kingdom.

 

Child Safety Standards Policy

Child Safety Standards 

 

Any explicit content or child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) is strongly prohibited on our application. 

Compliance with Child Safety laws & reporting 

 

Our app complies with applicable child safety laws and regulations. 

Our app ensures all content shared within the app is appropriate for a mixed audience, including children. User-generated content is moderated to prevent inappropriate material from being accessible.

Any CSAM (Child Safety Abuse Material) content will be automatically removed when flagged or reported through our moderation features or if we are directly contacted for this purpose. 

We will systematically take action to report confirmed CSAM content to Child Exploitation and Online Protection.
CSAM consists of any visual depiction, including but not limited to photos, videos and computer-generated imagery, involving the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Child safety point of contact   

You can reach out to [email protected] if CSAM content is detected. 

Privacy and Data Protection

Our app is committed to protecting user data, especially for children under 13, in compliance with applicable regulations.

The privacy policy is displayed clearly and is accessible from the app settings and our website

All data is encrypted during transmission and stored securely.

Ads and Monetization

Our app does not include ads or monetized content. 

Transparency and Disclosures

Data safety: Detailed information is provided as per Google Play’s Data safety form.

Content ratings: IARC 3+, L, E, 3, 3, USK 0

 

Validation and updates 

Regular internal testing is conducted to ensure compliance with Google Play’s child safety standards, including functionality reviews and content audits.

Policies are reviewed quarterly or as required to align with updated child safety standards.