Privacy at a glance
The website collects only the information needed to respond to enquiries, operate securely and provide optional publication metrics where you consent. The theme does not sell personal information or use it for behavioural advertising.
01 — Controller
Who we are
Gaffiero Health Behaviour Research Group is the website operator and data controller for personal information processed through this website, unless a research study or external service identifies a different controller in its own privacy information.
02 — Data collected
Information we collect
Information you submit
When you use the contact form, the website processes your name, email address, optional affiliation, selected enquiry subject and message.
Technical and security data
The web host and security systems may record IP address, browser and device information, requested pages, timestamps and diagnostic or security events in server logs.
Privacy preferences and anonymous measurement
The website records your cookie choices so it can respect them. If you consent, route-level enquiry events and Core Web Vitals are counted in aggregate without storing IP addresses, full URLs, referrers or visitor identifiers.
External services
Study links, DOI links, institutional profiles and other external destinations operate under their own privacy notices. Review those notices before submitting information.
03 — Purposes and lawful bases
How and why we use personal information
| Purpose | Information | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Responding to enquiries and discussing potential research, collaboration or professional activity | Contact details, affiliation, subject and message | Legitimate interests in communicating about the group’s work; where relevant, steps taken at your request before entering an agreement |
| Operating, securing and troubleshooting the website | Technical logs and security events | Legitimate interests in maintaining a secure, reliable website and protecting users |
| Anonymous performance and enquiry-path measurement, optional preferences and Altmetric publication metrics | Consent choices; aggregate route, event and Core Web Vitals measurements; and information processed by the embedded provider | Consent. You may reject or withdraw optional consent at any time |
| Meeting legal, regulatory or safeguarding obligations | Information relevant to the obligation | Legal obligation and, where applicable, legitimate interests |
The contact form sends the enquiry by email. The theme does not deliberately save contact-form submissions in the WordPress database. Copies may remain in the relevant email systems, backups or security logs in accordance with the applicable retention arrangements.
Special-category information
Please do not use the general contact form to send unnecessary health information or other sensitive personal information. Where a research study needs special-category data, the study team must identify an Article 6 lawful basis and a separate Article 9 condition, and provide study-specific information before collection.
05 — Lifecycle
Retention and security
Contact enquiries are normally retained for no longer than 24 months after the last meaningful contact, unless a shorter period is appropriate, the correspondence forms part of ongoing work, or a longer period is required for legal, contractual, safeguarding or record-keeping reasons.
Technical logs and backups are retained according to the schedules operated by the relevant hosting, email and security providers. Cookie choices are retained for the period explained in the Cookie Policy. Aggregate website-performance and enquiry-path counts are retained for a rolling 90-day period and cannot be used by this feature to identify an individual visitor.
Reasonable technical and organisational measures are used to protect personal information. However, no internet transmission or storage system is completely secure, so information should not be sent through the general form where a more secure research or institutional channel is required.
06 — Your choices
Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you the right to:
- be informed about how your information is used;
- request access to your personal information;
- ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected;
- ask for information to be erased in certain circumstances;
- ask for processing to be restricted;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests;
- receive certain information in a portable format;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing carried out before withdrawal; and
- raise a concern about automated decision-making where relevant.
These rights are not absolute and may depend on the purpose, lawful basis and applicable exemptions. Identity may need to be verified before a request is fulfilled.
07 — Questions and concerns
Contact and complaints
To ask a privacy question or exercise a data-protection right, email research@gaffieroresearch.co.uk.
You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO recommends contacting the organisation first so it has an opportunity to resolve the concern.
Children
This general website is not designed to collect personal information directly from children. Research involving children or young people must use age-appropriate participant information, consent or assent procedures, and study-specific safeguards.
Changes to this policy
This policy will be reviewed when the website, its providers or its processing activities change. The review date at the top of the page will be updated when material revisions are made.