The University of Oxford intends making a single submission to Research Excellence Framework 2029 (or REF 2029) on behalf of the collegiate University, and therefore this data notice applies to current and former employees current and former employees of colleges and permanent private halls.
REF 2029 is an exercise to assess the quality of UK research and inform the selective distribution of public funds for research by the four UK higher education funding bodies; it comprises assessment of three research elements:
- Contribution to knowledge and understanding
- Engagement and impact
- People, culture and environment
and requires provision of data to calculate the volume of eligible staff with significant responsibility for research, together with outputs, impact case studies, and disciplinary-level and institutional-level narratives which include data and indicators relating to staff.
Data Protection
For the purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018, the ‘Data Controller’ for the processing of personal data collected in accordance with the preparations for the University’s submission to the REF 2029 is the University of Oxford.
Your personal data will be used to support the University’s REF 2029 submission, which as a national research assessment exercise is a task we carry out in the legitimate interests of the collegiate University, and current and former employees.
We will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another related reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent to use it for that new purpose.
Types of data we collect about you
In the college staff data collection 2024, we will collect and use the following categories of data for the REF 2029 submission and in preparations for this submission:
- Data provided to the University of Oxford by colleges or permanent private halls (PPHs) as your employer. For current and former employees of the colleges and PPHs, we will use the following data which we receive from your employer:
- Name and title
- Personal identifiers including ORCID and SSO
- Contract of employment, duration (start and end dates) and Full time equivalent (FTE), including any variation in FTE over time
- Periods of unpaid leave or sabbatical
- Job title and university grade
- Teaching, line management and pastoral care responsibilities
- Subject area and affiliations with the departmental university through research or teaching
Who has access to your data
The University will share your data with those employees of the University who need to view it as part of their work in preparing the REF 2029 submission, including those working to support activities related to people, culture and environment across the University. This may include:
- Conference of Colleges Secretariat
- Research Services Research Information Team and Research Practice Team
- UOA Leads and Departments and Faculties leading the submission to a UOA
- HR Systems Team, Human Resources
- The University’s Researcher Hub
- The Bodleian Library's Open Scholarship Support Team
In accordance with REF requirements, your data will be processed to categorise person-level and contract-level data as required by the HESA staff return, and compared to the University's HESA staff return.
Your details may be used to set up a profile for you in the University’s research information system, Symplectic Elements.
Your contact details may be used to provide information on support for researchers and research practice, including the open access requirements for REF 2029.
Further details on the processing of your data can be obtained from refinfo@admin.ox.ac.uk.
Sharing with third parties
We may share your data in due course with the following third parties:
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI): The REF is managed by the REF team, based at Research England (RE), on behalf of the four UK higher education funding bodies. RE is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and so we may send some of the information we hold about you to UKRI for the purpose of the REF 2029. Under this arrangement UKRI has the role of ‘data controller’ for personal data submitted by us to the REF.
The guidance, systems and processes for REF 2029 are currently under development, see https://www.ref.ac.uk/.
We will provide updated information on sharing with third parties for REF 2029 as this becomes available. Information on data processing in the last exercise, REF 2021, is available at https://www.ref.ac.uk/guidance/data-management-guidance/fair-processing-notice-for-staff-submitted-to-ref-2021/
Retaining and storing your data
We will retain your data to support the University’s REF 2029 submission, including if required for legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Specifically, we will retain all data used in the development of the REF submission until completion of the REF audit process (January 2030 at the latest), and will retain a copy of the submission for 21 years after submission, in order to facilitate future REF submissions.
Security
Your data will be held securely in accordance with the University’s policies and procedures. Further information is available on the University’s Information Security website.
We store and use your data on University premises. Electronic data may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the United Kingdom (UK), for example, when stored on cloud-based service provider that operates outside the UK such as Microsoft.
Such transfers will only take place if one of the following applies:
· the country receiving the data is considered by the UK to provide an adequate level of data protection;
· the organisation receiving the data is covered by an arrangement recognised by the UK as providing an adequate standard of data protection;
· the transfer is governed by approved contractual clauses.
Your rights
Information on your rights in relation to your personal data are explained here.
Contact
If you wish to raise any queries or concerns about our use of your data, please contact us at refinfo@admin.ox.ac.uk or Research Services, University of Oxford, University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD.
