Privacy & cookies

The Royal Historical Society

Privacy and Data Protection

Updated 7 May 2020

 

Introduction

The Royal Historical Society is a company incorporated in England and Wales with the registered charity number 206888, whose registered office is: University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT.

The Royal Historical Society is committed to upholding and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we use the personal data that we collect for the purpose of administering our membership categories, funding schemes and prizes.

Please read this information carefully.

 

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about the Royal Historical Society’s privacy policy, the data we hold on you, the length for which we hold data, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us FAO the Executive Secretary.

  • Email: enquiries@royalhistsoc.org
  • Telephone:  +44 (0)20 3821 5311
  • Post: The Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

 

Changes to this privacy policy

We regularly review this policy. Any updates will be made on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on 1 May 2020.

 

Why do we collect personal data?

Personal data refers to the any information relating to you that enables you to be identified either directly or indirectly. In the United Kingdom, the use of personal data is regulated by the Data Protection Act (2018).

The Royal Historical Society relies on the lawful basis of our processing of personal data being necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests.

The Royal Historical Society collects and processes your data so that we can:

  • administer our schemes for membership, fellowship or funding, and manage this membership for its duration;
  • administer prizes and events and carry out other initiatives organised solely or partly by the RHS;
  • work with authors to develop publications;
  • appoint to honorary, paid and voluntary positions within the RHS;
  • email you with information about RHS activities, events and notices and opportunities that we think will be of interest;
  • maintain our historical archives for the purpose of historical research;
  • carry out our stated mission to represent, promote, advocate for and support the historical community;

 

Special Category Data

Through our online applications system we collect special category data within the lawful basis of legitimate interest under the condition of explicit consent. Any personal data coming within special category data (e.g. relating to gender, age, disability, racial or ethnic origin) will only be used for the purposes of monitoring diversity and equality. It will be stored confidentially and any analysis will be undertaken anonymously and with disaggregated data.

If you wish to withdraw your consent for the Royal Historical Society to hold special category data about you, please do not hesitate to contact the Executive Secretary.

 

How do we collect Personal Data?

The Royal Historical Society collects and processes personal data in the following main ways:

  1. Information automatically collected about visitors through our websites. This includes:
  • IP address;
  • Web browser type and version;
  • Operating system;
  • A list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on this Website, and the site you exit to.

 

  1. Data provided directly by individuals such as when you:
  • register with our online submission system, submit an application for, and/or are elected to, one of our membership categories;
  • register online to apply for one of our funding schemes;
  • are entered for one of our prize competitions;
  • nominate either yourself or a colleague to a position within the RHS;
  • propose or accept an invitation to publish with us;
  • contact us via our email, website or social media channels;
  • register for or take part in an event hosted solely or in part by us, whether online or in person.

The personal data we collect commonly includes:

  • name
  • contact information including email, postal address, and phone number
  • institutional affiliation and status
  • “special categories of data” including information about gender, age, ethnicity, religion may be requested with your explicit consent for equalities monitoring purposes.

 

Who do we share personal data with?

The Royal Historical Society will not sell any personal data to third parties.

The Royal Historical Society will only share personal data with third-parties who

  • supply the online systems that are used for the purposes of administering our services.
  • are involved directly in the running of RHS activities  including working groups, prize committees and assessing funding applications.

Basic factual information (such as name, institutional affiliation, membership of any committees, Council or working groups may be made publicly available on our website for reasons including:

  • accuracy of meeting minutes and published reports;
  • notices of publications, prizes and grant awards;
  • records of events and other conferences that we host may also include the names of those attending;
  • providing authorial credit.

 

Transfers of personal information outside the UK

Data which we collect from you may be stored or processed in and transferred to countries outside of the area covered by EU GDPR legislation, for example if our servers or service providers are located in a country outside this area. If personal data is transferred in this way, we will aim to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this privacy policy e.g. through the receipt of a written guarantee of GDPR compliance.

 

How long do we store personal data for?

Data security is of great importance to the Royal Historical Society, and to protect your data we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial safeguarding procedures. We store personal data for different amounts of time, depending on the purpose:

  • In the case of data provided in the course of administering membership and fellowship, the Royal Historical Society will keep your data for as long as you remain a Member or Fellow.
  • Basic personal data (such as name, date of birth and contact details) from funding applications and unsuccessful nominations will be kept in order to confirm eligibility for future funding scheme applications.
  • Data that is necessary for financial audit purposes will be kept for 7 years.
  • When personal data is collected for other specific purposes (e.g. participation in an event, survey or temporary funding scheme) we will provide clear confirmation of the data retention period at the point the data is collected.

 

What are your Data Protection Rights?

The Royal Historical Society would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. You are entitled to the following rights in relation to the data that we hold about you:

  • The right to access– You have the right to request copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
  • The right to rectification– You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete any information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure– You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing– You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing– You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability– You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

 

If you make a request within these rights, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Executive Secretary of the RHS by:

  • Email: enquiries@royalhistsoc.org
  • Telephone:  +44 (0)20 7387 7532
  • Post: The Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (please note that during the exceptional circumstances of COVID-19 we are not currenttly able to access the RHS offices)

 

Password Access

If password access is required to access certain parts of the Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

 

Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. When you visit our websites, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology. For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org. The Royal Historical Society may use cookies to:

  • Keep you signed in
  • Understanding how you use our website
  • Improve your experience of using the Website and to improve our range of services. Before the Website places Cookies on your computer, you will be presented with a message bar requesting your consent to set those Cookies.

You can set your internet browser to not accept cookies; however certain features of the Website may not function fully or as intended.

 

Marketing

The Royal Historical Society would like to send you information about our services, events and publications that we think you might like. If you agree or register on our websites to receive these emails from us, you have the right at any time to stop us from contacting you for these purposes.

If you no longer wish to be contacted for these purposes please contact the Executive Secretary by email at enquiries@royalhistsoc.org.

 

Privacy policies of other websites

The Royal Historical Society websites contain links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our websites, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.

 

How to lodge a complaint with the appropriate authority

Should you wish to report a complaint with respect to this privacy policy or if you feel that the Royal Historical Society has not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office via their website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/.