Privacy notice

This Privacy Notice provides information on how Oxford Brookes University (Oxford Brookes) collects and uses participant’s personal information when you take part in one of our research projects. Please refer to the research Participant Information Sheet for further details about the study and what information will be collected about you and how it will be used.

Oxford Brookes is the Data Controller of any data that you supply for this research. This means that we are responsible for looking after your information and using it lawfully. We will make the decisions on how your data is used and for what reasons. 

Why do we need your data?

We are conducting this research to understand the impact of specialist mentoring.  Depending on your level of study participation, your data is needed to:

• Follow up participants at different timepoints over the course of the study.

• Link questionnaire responses over time.

• Invite you to join the image making section of the study, discussions and other research related activities.

• Access your Grade Point Average (GPA) and explore relationships between mentoring and academic outcomes.

Oxford Brookes’ legal basis for collecting this data is: 

Your data will be used in academic research. Oxford Brookes University is a public body and staff and students carry out research in line with the University’s legal powers and constitution.

Your consent is an ethical requirement.

Oxford Brookes University’s legal basis for processing your Personal Data (or information) is as set out in Art 6 UK GDPR.

What type of personal data will Oxford Brookes use? 

We may collect the following data dependent on your chosen level of participation:

• Email addresses: We shall request a contact email address to enable participants who wish to be invited to follow up questionnaires and to the photovoice stages of the research to be sent further details.  Email addresses will also be used to send invitations to the image discussion.  We may also contact participants about opportunities to view or attend events where anonymised research findings are shared.

• Participants who do not wish to engage with follow up questionnaires or to complete the image making will not be required to provide a contact email address.

• Student numbers: Your student number will be used by an authorised member of the research team (e.g., a supervisor) to access your GPA from university records, with your consent. The primary researcher will not access GPA records directly. 

• Student numbers will be used to generate a unique participant code, allowing your responses to be tracked over time without using your name. The list linking student numbers to participant codes will be stored securely and separately from research data.  Once your unique participant code has been generated, it will replace your student number in the raw data.

• If you participate in the Photovoice task, you will be asked to label your uploaded images with your student number. This will enable the research team to securely link your images and any discussion contributions (including pseudonyms you use during discussions) to your unique participant code. This linkage will be used only internally to ensure consistency in the dataset. The list linking student numbers to participant codes will be stored securely and separately from research data. Once your unique participant code has been generated and applied, your student number will be removed from the raw dataset.

• Video and Audio Recording:
  If you choose to participate in a photovoice discussion group, the session will be video recorded for the purpose of transcription. Recordings will be made directly to a password-protected laptop.You may choose to have your camera on or off during the session. If your camera is on, your image will be captured in the recording.  Recordings will be transferred to the research team’s Google Drive after the discussion group and deleted from the laptop.  They will then be stored securely and deleted once they have been transcribed and checked for accuracy. Transcripts will be anonymised to remove any identifying details.

• Potentially identifiable content: Any identifying information that you choose to share in discussions, or any images that you make that could identify you will be treated as confidential and redacted during transcription.  You are welcome to use a pseudonym of your choice during discussion sessions to protect your identity.

• Transcripts and future use: Transcripts of your anonymised discussions may be used by the researcher or in future research, including secondary analysis. These may be analysed using computer-assisted or artificial intelligence (AI) tools to identify patterns or themes in qualitative data. Care will be taken to ensure that no personal identifiers are included.  

Who will Oxford Brookes share your data with?

Oxford Brookes use third party services to host data, such as Google services, and third parties to process data such as Microsoft Office packages.   Oxford Brookes may share anonymised data (such as interview transcripts) in digital research repositories, which are secure online platforms used to store and share data for research purposes, in line with open research practices. This allows other researchers to access and use the data for future studies, including those involving AI or machine learning tools. All personal identifiers will be removed before any data is shared.

Will Oxford Brookes transfer my data outside of the UK?

Google, Zoom and NVIVO all store data outside the UK. Data will be stored using Google Services. Questionnaires will use Google Services. Group discussions will use Zoom or Google Meet. NVivo will be used to process data.  Anonymised data deposited in public repositories may be accessed globally. However, no identifying personal data will be shared.

What rights do I have regarding my data that Oxford Brookes holds?

• You have the right to be informed about what data will be collected and how this will be used

• You have the right of access to your data

• You have the right to correct data if it is wrong

• You have the right to ask for your data to be deleted

• You have the right to restrict use of the data we hold about you

• You have the right to data portability

• You have the right to object to Oxford Brookes using your data

• You have rights in relation to using your data in automated decision making and profiling.

Your rights will depend on the legal ground used to process your data

Where did Oxford Brookes source my data from?

Your data will be obtained directly from you during the course of your participation in this study.

With your consent, academic data (such as your GPA) may be accessed from university records by an authorised member of the research team using your student number.

Are there any consequences of not providing the requested data?

There are no consequences of not providing data for this research. It is purely voluntary. If you would like to withdraw part way through the research, the Participant Information Sheet includes this information. It may be that some of the data that you have provided has already been used in the research. If you would like more information about this, you should feel free to contact the research team.

Will there be any automated decision making using my data?

There will be no use of automated decision making in scope of UK Data Protection and Privacy legislation.

AI tools may be used to assist with qualitative data analysis, such as identifying patterns or themes in anonymised transcripts, but these do not make decisions about individual participants.

How long will Oxford Brookes keep your data?

In line with Oxford Brookes policies data generated in the course of research must be kept securely in paper or electronic form for a period of ten years in accordance with the research funder or University policy.

Who can I contact if I have concerns?

In the event of any questions about the research study, please contact the research team in the first instance. Their contact details are listed on the Participant Information Sheet. If you have any concerns about the way in which the study has been conducted, please contact the Chair of the University Research Ethics Committee at ethics@brookes.ac.uk. For further details about information use contact the Information Security Management team on info.sec@brookes.ac.uk or the Data Protection Officer at brookesdpo@brookes.ac.uk. You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office via their website ico.org.uk.

Privacy notice. Version 2.  October 2025.