Privacy Notice for Senate Elections

This Privacy Notice sets out how we use your personal data and your rights regarding that information.

Who will own my data?

The University of Liverpool

Why do you need my information?

The Governance team collect personal information (email addresses/names/appointment information) so that we can undertake the necessary administration tasks and business as usual for the Senate Elections process as follows:

  • Eligible staff: A list of staff who are eligible to take part in Senate elections is shared by HR. This contains information on staff numbers, departmental information, length of service, names, professional titles and University emails. This allows the Governance team to administer the Senate elections process.
  • All Candidates who self-nominate: Email addresses will be used to contact candidates. We request a biography and a brief statement on why you wish to serve on Senate. We also ask if you are a Professor or within five years of your first substantive academic post so that we can confirm your eligibility to submit a nomination.
  • Electors: As part of the nomination form, we ask that the titles, full names and University email addresses of up to four electors are provided to ensure that your nomination has been supported by eligible members of staff.
  • Voters: Email addresses for all staff eligible to vote will be input into a third-party voting software (OpaVote) to facilitate the voting process.

What allows you to use my information?

In order to exercise our governance functions and activities relating to Senate elections, we are required to process personal information. We do this using the legitimate interests processing condition. You have the right to opt-out of this processing at any point.  

Who will my information be shared with?

  • All candidates: Contact information (professional titles/names/UoL email addresses) will be shared with designated persons from the Governance team. Contact details will not be shared on the intranet, but names, professional titles, biographies and reasons as to why candidates wish to serve on Senate will be published on the Governance intranet.
  • Successful candidates: Contact information (professional titles/names/email addresses) will be shared with designated persons from the Governance team to perform administrative functions for Senate. The names of successful candidates will be published on the intranet, and as part of the Senate membership list. (see Governance Privacy Notice)
  • Ballots: Should the elections process for each Faculty need to proceed to Ballot, the titles and names will be published using a third-party voting software (0paVote). University email addresses of all eligible voters will also be input into a third-party voting software (OpaVote) to ensure only eligible voters can take part in the ballot exercise.  Information, including anonymised ballot results, will only be shared with designated persons within the Governance team.
  • Electors: This information will only be shared internally within the Governance team and there may be occasions where we are required to contact them to confirm their support of your nomination.
  • Eligible voters: Eligible voters are listed on an electoral roll for each Faculty. This information is shared internally with faculties via email and is also published internally on the Governance intranet pages and includes Faculty and Institute information for ease of reference. The full list of eligible staff (containing staff numbers, departmental information, length of service, names, professional titles and University emails) will be shared with designated persons from the Governance team to perform administrative functions for Senate.
  • Withdrawn candidates: the names of candidates who have withdrawn their nomination will be shared internally with Governance team only.
  • Anonymised outcomes of ballots may be shared with external agencies for the purposes of regulatory oversight/inspection. (See Governance Privacy Notice)

Do I have to provide this information and what will happen if I don’t?

You are not required to provide this information, but we ask that you do so that we can carry out our administrative processes. If a candidate withdraws their consent/nomination, they will no longer be included as part of the Senate election process.

How will my information be stored?

Nominations from candidates are collected using JISC forms and will be stored as follows:

  • Successful candidates: This information will be held by the Governance team for the duration of your time as a member of Senate, including any amendments made during the period of your role plus 6 years, in line with the University Records Retention Schedule. All University departments adhere to this schedule.
  • Unsuccessful candidates: The information will be held by the Governance team in line with the University Records Retention Schedule, and will be deleted after the annual Senate elections process finishes.
  • Withdrawn candidates: all copies of forms (including biographies and reasons why they wish to serve on Senate) will be deleted immediately and permanently.

Information included as part of the third party voting software (OpaVote) process will be permanently deleted once the annual elections process has been completed. Anonymised results will be extracted and stored in line with the University’s Retention Schedule.

Lists of eligible staff will be held by the Governance team for the duration of the Senate elections process. Electoral rolls will be held by the Governance team for one year in line with the University Records Retention Schedule.

How long will you keep this data for and why?

Information will be held securely by the Governance team in our departmental drives. Access to this information will be restricted to designated persons within the Governance team and relevant staff members (outlined above) who are authorised to view it as a necessary part of their work.

Will this information be used to take automated decisions about me?

No

Will my data be transferred abroad and why?

OptaVote processes data on servers located in the USA. We have taken appropriate safeguards to require that your personal information will remain protected in accordance with this Privacy Notice and UK GDPR. Data held by the Governance team is not routinely transferred abroad. However, there may be ad-hoc occasions where minutes that contain information on the outcome of elections are shared with members who are currently abroad.

What rights do I have when it comes to my data?

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, you may have the following rights with regards to your personal data:

  • The Right to subject access – you have the right to see a copy of the personal data that the University holds about you and find out what it is used for.
  • The Right to rectification – you have the right to ask the University to correct or remove any inaccurate data that we hold about you.
  • The Right to erasure (right to be forgotten) you have the right to ask the University to remove data that we hold about you.
  • The Right to restriction – you have the right to ask for your information to be restricted (locked down) on University systems.
  • The Right to data portability – you have the right to ask for your data to be transferred back to you or to a new provider at your request.
  • The Right to object – you have the right to ask the University to stop using your personal data or to stop sending you marketing information, or complain about how your data is used.
  • The Right to prevent automated decision making – you have the right to ask the University to stop using your data to make automated decisions about you or to stop profiling your behaviour (where applicable).

Please note that not all rights apply in all situations. To find out more about your rights under the UK GDPR, please visit the Information Commissioner’s website.

To request a copy of your data or ask questions about how it is used, contact the University Data Protection Officer.

  • Email: legal@liverpool.ac.uk
  • Post: Legal & Governance, University of Liverpool, Foundation Building, 765 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 7ZX

Who can I complain to if I am unhappy about how my data is used?

You can complain directly to the Data Protection Team by writing to the University Data Protection Officer.

  • By email: legal@liverpool.ac.uk
  • Post: Legal & Governance, University of Liverpool, Foundation Building, 765 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 7ZX

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office using the following details:

  • The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
  • Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
  • Website: ico.org.uk

Published: 7 August 2024

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