How we use your personal information – Founders at the University of Cambridge
This policy is intended to assist you in making an informed decision about participating in the Founders at the University of Cambridge programme (the Programme) at Cambridge Enterprise as a Community Member or Mentor. It also explains what personal information we gather about you when you express an interest, register to attend or participate in events and activities run by the Programme.
We (Cambridge Enterprise Limited) are a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Cambridge (the University). Reference to the University includes its spin-out and proto-companies and any reference to academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni are to those of the University.
Founders at the University of Cambridge is a programme delivered by Cambridge Enterprise Limited. Reference to Cambridge Enterprise includes Cambridge Enterprise Limited and Founders at the University of Cambridge.
Please take a moment to read and understand this policy. This policy supplements our other privacy policies and notices and is not intended to override them. It should also be read in conjunction with the privacy policy on the Founders at the University of Cambridge website.
Cambridge Enterprise Limited (Cambridge Enterprise) is a company registered in England and Wales with registered company number 01069886.
Cambridge Enterprise is the data controller responsible for the personal information that you agree to share with Cambridge Enterprise Limited directly or via Founders at the University of Cambridge.
The named person responsibility for data protection compliance for Cambridge Enterprise Limited is our Deputy Director. If you have any questions about how your personal information is being used, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact:
Cambridge Enterprise Limited, University of Cambridge
Hauser Forum, 3 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0GT
What is ‘personal information’?
‘Personal information’ means any information which relates to or identifies you as an individual.
How does this web page relate to other information about data protection?
Please see further information on our Data Protection pages.
Who will process my personal information?
The information published here applies to the use, sharing and disclosure of your personal information by Cambridge Enterprise.
Community and Mentors
What personal information will be processed?
Cambridge Enterprise will keep a record of the details you provided on your enquiry, application or registration form, any supporting documents requested and additional details provided by you.
We will collect:
- Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number
- Details of your skills and experience as relevant to your capacity to participate in the Programme.
We maintain:
- A record of your enquiry form and supporting documents (including your curriculum vitae or career summary)
- Url to your LinkedIn profile and your website details
- A record of your electronic communications with us, including feedback, questions for and information provided by Cambridge Enterprise
- A record of any communications (including electronic) with and feedback from your mentoring interactions with the academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni facilitated by us
- A record of your preferences to receive marketing communications with us for any opportunities that we offer
We do not collect your communications with third parties. We record, store and securely transmit your personal information in paper and electronic formats, in email and voice recording. We limit access to your personal information to your personal information to our employees and those at the University who have a need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We may combine the information you submit with other information we have collected from you, whether online or offline, for example, relating to the expertise you and other mentors offer, and on your usage of our website.
We may collect certain information automatically as you navigate around our website.
Please see our Cookie Policy and How we use your personal information – website users for further details.
What is the purpose of the processing?
We will process your personal information for a range of contractual, statutory or public interest purposes, including to:
- Verify your credentials
- Help us to identify and match your expertise with academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni who require assistance and mentoring
- Process and manage your involvement in the Programme
- Respond to your messages submitted through our website or via any other communication
- Contact you with important announcements and events relevant to your capacity to participate on the Programme
- Manage your account for marketing, including customising the type of communication we send to you according to your preferences
- Protect our legitimate interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests
What is the legal basis for processing?
We set out in the table below, details of the lawful basis for which we process your personal information.
If you do not provide the relevant personal information, we will not be able to identify suitable mentoring opportunities or suitably manage the Programme as a whole. If we require your consent for any specific use of your personal information, we will collect it at the appropriate time and you can withdraw this at any time. We will not use your personal information to carry out any wholly automated decision-making that affects you.
| Purpose | Legal basis for processing including basis of legitimate interests |
|---|---|
| To manage our relationship with you from commencement of your application process through to the end of your participation as a Community Member or Mentor with Founders at the University of Cambridge | a) Performance of our agreement with you b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, Community members and Mentors use our services) |
| To share your LinkedIn profile, curriculum vitae and supporting documentation with academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni other Community members and Mentors | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to provide relevant information for academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, other Community Members and Mentors interested in learning about your expertise and mentoring skills) |
| To make suggestions and recommendations to you about opportunities which could use your mentoring and expertise | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to commercialise intellectual property, grow our business and support academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, other Community Members and Mentors) |
| To measure or understand the effectiveness of those opportunities that we have | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, other Community Members and Mentors use our services, to develop them, to commercialise intellectual property, and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To interact with our business teams | Necessary for our legitimate interests or to perform our obligations under our agreement with you (to ensure that opportunities are addressed in an efficient and effective way) |
| To protect the vital interests of academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, other Community Members and Mentors using our services | Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to protect the vital interests of academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, other Community Members and Mentors) |
| To protect our vital interests | Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to establish, exercise or defend any legal claims) |
| To collect and share any necessary feedback on your performance during the period of participation | Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to better serve academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, other Community Members and Mentors) |
| To comply with our legal obligations concerning the services we provide | Necessary for compliance with a legal obligation (in order to disclose your personal information to legal or regulatory authorities, with whom we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to comply with any legal obligation, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, other Community Members, Mentors and third parties) |
| To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting, and hosting of data) | (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
Who will my personal information be shared with?
Your personal information is shared as permitted or required by law, on a considered and confidential basis, with the University.
In the event that a suitable opportunity is identified, we will share your data with the relevant academic, researcher, staff, student, alumni, Community Member, Mentor, spin-out or proto company of the University.
Transferring your information outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area (EEA)
We may need to transfer your personal information outside of the UK or EEA in order to provide you with the services and products you require or as necessary for our legitimate interests. This will most likely occur when our third-party providers are based outside the EEA. Any such transfers are carried out with appropriate safeguards in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal information.
- A record of any communications (including electronic) with and feedback from your mentoring interactions with the academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni facilitated by us
- A record of your preferences to receive marketing communications with us for any opportunities that we offer
Other than as set out above, we will not normally publish or disclose any personal information about you to other external enquirers or organisations unless you have requested or consented to it, or unless it is in your vital interests to do so (e.g. in an emergency situation).
Your rights
You have the right to access the personal information that is held about you by the Cambridge Enterprise. Further details can be found at Making a Subject Access Request.
You also have the right to ask us to correct any inaccurate personal information we hold about you, to delete personal information, or otherwise restrict our processing, or to object to processing or to receive an electronic copy of the personal information you provided to us. Please email us via the button below if you believe we have some inaccurate personal information held about you.
If you are not happy with the way your information is being handled, or with the response received from us, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. We would however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
How long is my information kept?
If your application to join the Programme is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for two years after the end of the application process. At the end of that period, your data is deleted or destroyed.
If your application to join the Programme is successful, personal information gathered during your application process and participation period will be held on file for six years from the date the appointment commenced.
Information about how long different types of information are retained by Cambridge Enterprise is published on our Records Management page.
Are changes made to this page?
This web page was last updated July 2023. It is reviewed when necessary and at least annually. Any changes will be published here.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Participants in events and applicants to programmes
What personal information will be processed?
Cambridge Enterprise will keep a record of the details you provided on your enquiry, application or registration form, any supporting documents requested and additional details provided by you.
We will collect:
- Your name, address and contact details, including email address
We maintain:
- A record of your enquiry form, application, event registration form and any supporting documents or information provided by you
- A record of your electronic communications with us, including feedback, questions for and information provided by either Founders at the University of Cambridge or Cambridge Enterprise
- A record of your preferences to receive marketing communications from us for any relevant updates or activities
In addition to this, Cambridge Enterprise may process some information about you that is classed as ‘sensitive’ or ‘special category’1 personal data, and which requires additional protections. This includes information about your religious beliefs or health/disability for planning and monitoring purposes, or in order to provide care, help or suitable adjustments. Access to, and the sharing of, your ‘sensitive’ personal data are controlled very carefully. You will normally be given further details about our use of any such data when we collect it from you.
We may collect your communications with third parties, for example where a third party application is used by you to apply for a programme or event. We record, store and securely transmit your personal information in paper and electronic formats, in email and voice recording. We limit access to your personal information to your personal information to our employees and those at the University who have a need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We may combine the information you submit with other information we have collected from you, whether online or offline, for example, relating to the expertise you and other mentors offer, and on your usage of our website.
We may collect certain information automatically as you navigate around our website.
Please see our Cookie Policy and How we use your personal information – website users for further details.
1 ‘Special categories of personal data’ means information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life or sexual orientation and biometric data. UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) specifies that special categories of personal data should be treated with particular care due to its sensitive nature.
What is the purpose of the processing?
We will process your personal information for a range of contractual, statutory or public interest purposes, including to:
- Verify your credentials
- Process and manage your application, registration or participation in our events
- Respond to your messages submitted through our website or via any other communication
- Manage your account for marketing, including customising the type of communication we send to you according to your preferences
- Conduct post-event evaluation to help us improve our services
- Provide our service to you under the Programme, for example introducing you to mentors
- Protect our legitimate interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests
What is the legal basis for processing?
We set out in the table below, details of the lawful basis for which we process your personal information.
If we require your consent for any specific use of your personal information, we will collect it at the appropriate time and you can withdraw this at any time. We will not use your personal information to carry out any wholly automated decision-making that affects you.
| Purpose | Legal basis for processing including basis of legitimate interests |
|---|---|
| To manage our relationship with you from when you visit our website to the conclusion of your participation in our Programme of events | a) Performance of our agreement with you b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, and those external to the University of Cambridge use our services) |
| To process and manage your participation in our event | Necessary for our legitimate interests or to perform our obligations under our agreement with you (to keep our records updated and to ensure that the events are your participation are delivered in an efficient, effective and appropriate way) |
| To provide you with relevant communications relating to your event participation | a) Necessary to fulfill your request to receive communications b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to ensure that the event and your participation are delivered in an efficient, effective and appropriate way, and to study how academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and those external to the University of Cambridge use our services) |
| To measure or understand the effectiveness of the information on and engagement with our events | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and those external to the University of Cambridge engage with our events and services, to develop them, to commercialise intellectual property, and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To interact with our business teams | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to commercialise intellectual property, grow our business and support academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni, and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To protect the vital interests of academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni, Community Members and Mentors using our services | Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to protect the vital interests of academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and those external to the University of Cambridge) |
| To protect our vital interests | Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to establish, exercise or defend any legal claims) |
| To collect and share any necessary feedback submitted via or relating to our events and communications | Necessary for our legitimate interests (in order to better serve academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and event participants) |
| To comply with our legal obligations concerning the services we provide | Necessary for compliance with a legal obligation (in order to disclose your personal information to legal or regulatory authorities, with whom we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to comply with any legal obligation, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and third parties) |
| To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting, and hosting of data) | (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| To measure and understand the diversit y of engagement within the Programme and events | Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how effective we are at ensuring diversity among our academics, researchers, staff, students, alumni and those external to the University of Cambridge who engage with our events and services) |
Who will my personal information be shared with?
Your personal information is shared as permitted or required by law, on a considered and confidential basis, with the University.
Your personal information may also be shared as permitted or required by law, on a considered and confidential basis, with a range of external organisations, including those essential to the management of an event that you are registered to attend, such as caterers, as necessary.
Your personal information may also be shared as permitted or required by law, on a considered and confidential basis, with other participants in the Programme or event, as necessary to manage the Programme and provide services to the Programme participants.
Transferring your information outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area (EEA)
We may need to transfer your personal information outside of the UK or EEA in order to provide you with the services and products you require or as necessary for our legitimate interests. This will most likely occur when our third-party providers are based outside the EEA. Any such transfers are carried out with appropriate safeguards in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal information.
Other than as set out above, we will not normally publish or disclose any personal information about you to other external enquirers or organisations unless you have requested or consented to it, or unless it is in your vital interests to do so (e.g. in an emergency situation).
Links to other websites
Our websites may include links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control those third party websites and are not responsible for their privacy policies or statements.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to any website operated by a third party. If you follow a link from this website to another website, we recommend that you read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.
Your rights
You have the right to access the personal information that is held about you by the Cambridge Enterprise. Further details can be found at Making a Subject Access Request.
You also have the right to ask us to correct any inaccurate personal information we hold about you, to delete personal information, or otherwise restrict our processing, or to object to processing or to receive an electronic copy of the personal information you provided to us. Please email us via the button below if you believe we have some inaccurate personal information held about you.
If you are not happy with the way your information is being handled, or with the response received from us, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. We would however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
How long is my information kept?
If your application to join the Programme is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for two years after the end of the application process. At the end of that period, your data is deleted or destroyed.
If your application to join the Programme is successful, personal information gathered during your application process and participation period will be held on file for six years from the date the appointment commenced.
Information about how long different types of information are retained by Cambridge Enterprise is published on our Records Management page.
Are changes made to this page?
This web page was last updated November 2023. It is reviewed when necessary and at least annually. Any changes will be published here.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Additional information
This policy should be read in conjunction with the Privacy notice on the Founders at the University of Cambridge website.