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General

This policy explains what information we gather when you visit the Department of Materials Science web site, and explains how that information is used.

It is important for you to appreciate that the Department of Materials Science's public-facing web site provides extensive links to other independent sites, both within the University and elsewhere, which includes links to Department of Materials Science based research group websites which are hosted by individual groups on other servers and out of our direct control. This policy applies only to direct accesses to the Department 's public-facing webpages, i.e. those that have URLs starting http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/. You will need to consult the appropriate information on other sites for information on their policies.

Cookies

This website uses cookies, which are small pieces of information that are issued to your computer or other internet-enabled device when you visit the website. Cookies are stored by your browser and hard drive and are used to distinguish you from other visitors to the site.

For more details about cookies, how to disable them and the cookies we use (including Google Analytics cookies), there is a separate cookie policy for pages with URLs starting http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/.

Data collected

In common with most web sites, this site automatically logs certain information about every request made of it (see below for more details). This information is used for system administration, for bug tracking, and for producing usage statistics. The logged information may be kept for up to two years.

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Information that you provide by filling in forms provided on this website for a specific purpose. By supplying this information you are consenting to the University and the Department of Materials Science holding and using it for the purposes for which it was provided.
  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.

Logged data

The following data is automatically collected for each request:

  • The name or network address of the computer making the request. Note that under some (but not all) circumstances it may be possible to infer from this the identity of the person making the request. Note also that the data recorded may be that of a web proxy rather than that of the originating client
  • The username, when known during authenticated (logged in) access to the site
  • The date and time of connection
  • The HTTP request, which contains the identification of the document requested
  • The status code of the request (success or failure etc.)
  • The number of data bytes sent in response
  • The contents of the HTTP Referrer header supplied by the browser
  • The content of the HTTP User-Agent header supplied by the browser

Logging of additional data may be enabled temporarily from time to time for specific purposes.

In addition, the computers on which the web site is hosted keep records of attempts (authorised and unauthorised) to use them for purposes other than access to the web server. This data typically includes:

  • the date and time of the attempt,
  • the service to which access was attempted,
  • the name or network address of the computer making the connection,
  • and may include details of what was done or was attempted to be done.

Disclosure and uses of personal information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

  • to ensure that content from our website is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer or device by gathering aggregate information about our users using it to analyse the effectiveness and popularity of this website
  • to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so

We may disclose your personal information to third parties in the following circumstances:

  • if we have obtained your consent to do so
  • when we are required or authorised by law, court order, regulatory or governmental authority to disclose your personal data
  • if required to protect the rights, property or safety of the Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge, its members or others.

Relevant subsets of this data may be passed to computer security teams as part of investigations of computer misuse involving this site or other computing equipment in the University.

In addition, this site uses Google Analytics to help us analyse site usage and to improve it. To support this, selected information about your interaction with the site is sent to Google for them to analyse on our behalf. For more information about Google Analytics see http://www.google.com/analytics/.

Links to other websites

This website contains links to and from third-party sites. This policy only covers use of cookies on this site. You should consult privacy and cookie policies on third-party sites before you submit and personal data. The Department of Materials Science and the University of Cambridge is not responsible for any cookies that may be set by third party websites that are linked to from pages on www.msm.cam.ac.uk.

Access to personal data

For the purpose of the UK Data Protection Act 1998, the 'Data Controller' for the processing of data collected by this site is the University of Cambridge, and the point of contact for subject access requests is the University Data Protection Officer (The Old Schools, Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TN, tel. 01223 332320, fax 01223 332332 E-mail: data.protection@admin.cam.ac.uk).  

The University is also Data Controller in respect of any personal data served as content by this site.

From 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new data protection law that will apply in the UK and the rest of the EU and will replace the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).  The University has already issued updated information on complying with the new regulations and the detail can be found on their website https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/data-protection.  Departments across the University will be following these policies.