Privacy Policy

New content added on 18th October 2023

In particular new content has been added relating to our partner organisations and in the issuing of digital badges.

The YSA online services Privacy Statement

The Youth STEMM Award (YSA) sees the protection and appropriate treatment of personal information as a vital component of an effective online presence.

We do our best to ensure that our websites are secure so that your confidentiality is maintained. We adhere to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018, which gives you control over the information stored about you and how we contact you in the future for promotional offers from our partners.

This statement explains how we achieve these goals and gives details of our privacy practices, including what information we collect about people using our website and other online services, how the information will be used or disclosed, and rights with respect to our collection and use of personal data.

By using our online services you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Statement.

Why we collect personal information

There are two types of information you provide us with when using our online services: personal information provided when completing personal information fields, and information collected by us as you interact with our services.  We also collect your email address as part of the registration process. You cannot participate without submitting an email address to access the e-portfolio. We collect your personal information because it helps us to support our participants and schools achieve their Awards and create collaborative networks and relationships.  It enables us to give convenient access to our online services and support mechanisms.  In addition, personal information helps us to continue to develop and improve the way the YSA functions, and to shape the support we provide.

What information does the YSA collect and why?

Essentially, the information is used to provide you with the service you have requested or to answer an enquiry. We may ask you to provide us with personal information on a voluntary basis in certain areas of our online services. This information will be used for the purposes outlined at the time of collection.  In particular, you may be asked to provide the following information:

Website: Name, address and contact details to enable us to fulfil any enquiry or request for support.

YSA e-portfolio: In order to use the online management system offered by the YSA, you will need to provide personal information including, but not limited to, personal details, contact details (including a valid email address) and, for young people, detailed information about your progress in the Award. Providing this information saves you time and allows for easier use of our services. If you are using the e-portfolio, you will have an account created for you using your name and email address by an authorised person within your own institution, your sponsoring organisation or centrally by YSA. On your first sign in you will activate your personal profile by creating a secure password to your new account. Upon logging in, you can enter your personal details by clicking the ‘edit profile’ button in the navigation bar. The system saves your information and you can begin the steps to achieving your award. The next time you log in to the e-portfolio all you need to do is enter your email address and password and you will be taken to your personal dashboard and you can pick up where you left off. We keep records of your activity to help us understand how you use the system so that we can make it a more effective tool for you. You can update your password at any time by clicking the ‘forgot your password’ button on the login page.

You will also provide information and evidence relating to your completion of your Youth STEMM Award. Please note that by uploading materials to the eportfolio you are giving Youth STEMM Award CIC permission to use any images, comments or writing submitted for any purpose relating to promoting the YSA (marketing) or celebrating the impact of the scheme on young people (impact). At no time will personal information be shared as part of this promotional work without express permission of the user.

Finally, we may ask you to share an image of you receiving your medal, or participating in an activity linked to your Award. This will only be done with your consent and permission to use said image and this can be retracted at any time by contacting the company using the details at the bottom of this notice.

Communicating with you: The YSA e-newsletters and other operational emails are essential communications containing vital updates and useful programme information, so all participants and coordinators will receive those appropriate to their roles. You will be contacted either via email or via the e-portfolio to give feedback on how you are progressing with the programme – this will usually happen at the start of the scheme and at the end. Providing feedback is optional and will not affect your progression through the scheme, however it will help us understand more about what works best in the programme and improve it for you, and future participants. If you do provide feedback your responses will be matched to your demographic data collected via the portfolio to help us better understand your journey through the scheme.

If you are unhappy with your experience with any part of the YSA or wish to provide feedback on the Award you may do so by contacting us through our website.

 

How is information collected online used by the YSA?

All contact from the YSA using personal data will communicate useful and relevant information to either help participants complete the Award, Coordinators support the participants, or the YSA to improve its services.

We may therefore use this personal data for the following purposes:

To send you information about the Award and any changes to the website or e-portfolio

To send you information about the YSA and promotional material about our products and services.

To monitor interest in our range of products and services and to assist us in tailoring the content of the website and e-portfolio to our online visitors’ needs by collecting information about your preferences through tracking patterns of page-viewing, downloads and uploads.

To provide progress updates relating to individuals or groups to sponsoring organisations where appropriate (see below).

 

Does the Youth STEMM Award disclose information that it collects from these sites to other parties?

The YSA will not provide any information collected from the YSA website or e-portfolio that personally identifies you to any other company or organisation, unless it is required to do so by law, Court Order by other Government or law enforcement authorities or as described below in this Policy Statement.

Data collected on the e-portfolio is shared with the relevant institution and coordinator(s), as a necessity to enable young people to achieve their Award and for coordinators to manage their participants effectively. Participant personal information is never shared with other participants.

 

Data collected is also shared with other institutions as follows:

Organisations identified as sponsoring partners and collaborating supporters. A third party who is issuing Digital Badges on our behalf (see section on digital badges).

Anonymised data about participation in activities tagged as being provided by our partners and supporters may be shared at a cohort level, for example by providing the number of unique users logging activities by an individual provider and their approximate geographic location (region of the country).  Where a group and or individual participant is taking part in the YSA under a pre agreed sponsorship agreement with one of the YSA key partners data will be shared as detailed below:

Sponsoring Partners:

University of East Anglia (UEA)

UEA is a key partner of YSA and sponsors many schools and young people to participate. We will share with them the information collected in our e-portfolio so that they are able to align it with their own monitoring systems for students who also participate in UEA Outreach events and where their data has been collected by UEA. Students sponsored by UEA may be personally identified in the shared data in order to track your progress. This will allow both us and them to better understand the impact of the Youth STEMM Award and will also ensure that they can track the ongoing impact of the activities undertaken and recorded as part of the Award Scheme. Information shared is limited to that collected by the e-portfolio or via emails asking for your feedback as a participant in the scheme. The UEA Privacy Notice for Outreach Participants can be found online at: https://www.uea.ac.uk/study/info-for/gdpr.

Wellcome Connecting Science (WCS)

WCS Public Engagement is a key partner of YSA and sponsors many schools and young people to participate. We will share with them the information collected in our e-portfolio so that they are able to align it with their own monitoring systems for students and schools that take part in their activities and who participate in the Black STEMM Futures programme and the My STEMM Futures programme, and where their data has been collected by WCS. Students sponsored by WCS may be personally identified in the shared data in order to track the impact of the project. This will allow both us and WCS to better understand the impact of the work they are doing to try and increase diversity in STEMM. Information shared is limited to that collected by the e-portfolio or via emails asking for your feedback as a participant, coordinator or school taking part in the scheme. WCS general privacy policy can be found at: https://www.wellcomegenomecampus.org/privacy-policy/

Babraham Institute (BI)

Babraham Institute is a key partner of YSA. We will share with them the information collected in our e-portfolio so that they are able to align it with their own monitoring systems for students and schools sponsored by them, and in activities logged to the YSA that are listed as being provided by BI. You may be personally identified in the shared data in order to track the impact of the project. This will allow both us and BI to better understand the impact of the work we are doing to try and increase diversity in STEMM. Information shared is limited to that collected by the e-portfolio or via surveys and emails asking for your feedback as a participant, coordinator or school taking part in the scheme. BI general privacy policy can be found at: https://www.babraham.ac.uk/legal/privacy-policy

Digital Badges

Youth STEMM Award participants may be eligible to receive digital badges in recognition of completing an Award. These badges can be shared on social media, digital portfolios, resumes, or other online platforms to showcase accomplishments.

We collaborate with Navigatr App, a third-party digital badge platform, to issue and manage Youth STEMM Award digital badges. As part of this process, when a participant has completed an Award, their first name, last name and email addresses is uploaded to Navigatr App solely for badge issuance purposes. Participants are encouraged to review the privacy policy of Navigatr App (https://navigatr.app/privacy/) to understand how their data is handled, stored, and protected. It is then up to the participant to claim the digital badge and decide whether to sign up to Navigatr App.

Data Sharing and Protection: When sharing data with Navigatr App, we ensure the transmission is encrypted and secure. The shared data is limited to what’s necessary for badge issuance and is not used by the third-party for any other purposes, unless explicitly agreed upon by the participants.

Opt-out: Participants who prefer not to receive a digital badge, or wish to avoid data sharing with Navigatr App, can opt-out by contacting us directly. Opting out of digital badges will not impact a participant’s eligibility to receive a medal or paper certificate.

 

Use of cookies

The Youth STEMM Awards and e-portfolio use ‘cookies’ exclusively to enable users to log in and use their account. Please note that disabling ‘cookies’ on your browser will stop the website from working correctly. For further information about cookies, please visit http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/basics/legal/cookies/index_en.htm

 

Your rights

Please be aware that the receipt of all Award emails and information is compulsory for all participants undertaking the Award and for all coordinators running the Award. This is to ensure everyone is getting consistent information at the same time.

 

Access and correction

You have a right to know about the personal information that the YSA holds about you and to receive a copy of that information provided upon request. You also have a right to correct, amend or delete the information that the YSA holds about you if it is incorrect. If you wish to exercise these rights please contact us by post or email at the address shown in the ‘Contact’ section. Within the e-portfolio you can view these details at any time by signing in with your email address and password. On payment of an administration fee of £20.00 we will send you a hard copy of all the personal data held about you. Please apply in writing to: The Data Controller, Youth STEMM Award CIC, Centrum, Colney Lane, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7UG.

Security

We take all reasonable safeguards to keep all your personal information as secure as is humanly possible. In addition to a rigorously enforced data handling policy, all our staff members are made aware of their obligations to keep the information for authorised use only. Of course no technology is fail-safe, but we have made every reasonable effort to keep our systems up to date with the relevant protocols. All personal data is accessible only to those who need to use it. We make that judgement based upon the sensitivity and value of the information in question;

 

We always consider keeping personal data:

In a lockable room with controlled access.

In a locked drawer or filing cabinet.

If data is computerised it is stored on network or cloud servers and on password-protected databases or local systems and have suitable security access levels determined, applied and monitored.

Particular care is taken of portable ICT equipment, memory sticks etc. which are password protected and encrypted to prevent unauthorised access.

Sensitive personal data is not kept on memory sticks

The security measures that we have put in place ensure that:

 

Only authorised people can access, alter, disclose or destroy personal data.

Those people only act within the scope of their authority.

If personal data is accidentally lost, altered or destroyed, it can be recovered to prevent any damage or distress to the individuals concerned.

 

Children

The Award is open to 11 to 19 year olds. For those under 13 years, registration with the YSA  is with the express permission of their parent or carer, and/or with authorisation from school teachers who confirm they have sought and received permission from parents/carers. Should a child whom we know to be under 13 send personal information to us, we will use that information only to respond directly to that child to inform them that we must have parental consent before receiving his or her personal information. We recommend that the children over the age of 13 and up to the age of 16 ask their parents’ permission before sending any information about themselves to anyone over the internet.  All under 16s are asked to obtain parental consent on YSA enrolment forms (schools can use their own paperwork) before they are set up on the YSA e-portfolio – responsibility for gaining this acknowledgement lies with the school or institution coordinating for the participant.

External links

The YSA’s online services provide links to various websites that we do not control as well as to websites of our partners and supporters. When you click on one of these links, you will be transferred out of our websites and connected to the website of the organisation or company that you have selected. Even if an affiliation exists between our websites and a third-party website, we exercise no control over linked sites and are not responsible for the privacy practices of other organisations and their websites.  Each of these linked sites maintains its own independent privacy and data collection policies and procedures. If you visit a website that is linked to our site, you should consult that site’s privacy policy before providing any personal information. This Privacy Statement applies solely to the information gathered by the YSA.

 

Future policy

We may need to update or modify this privacy statement at any time, and modifications are effective upon being posted on the YSA website and in any other online services. You are responsible for reviewing this privacy statement periodically to ensure that you are aware of any changes to it.

 

Contacting the Youth STEMM Award

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, the privacy practices of the YSA or if you want to exercise any of the rights that you are given under this Privacy Statement you can contact:

 

Email: hq@ysawards.co.uk

Post: Youth STEMM Award, Centrum, Colney Lane, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7UG

 

Although every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information on this website is accurate at the time of publication, visitors who use this website and rely on any information do so at their own risk. The Youth STEMM Award does not warrant its accuracy and disclaims any liability to any third party anywhere in the world for any injury, damage, loss or inconvenience arising as a consequence of any use of or the inability to use any information on this website to the fullest extent permitted at law.