Privacy Policy for Data Collection

1. Who we are

The Scottish Haematology Society (“SHS”, “we”, “us”) is the data controller for the personal information you provide when you apply for membership. SHS is a professional society for haematology clinicians and trainees in Scotland.

For any data protection queries, contact:

•          Angela Newlands

•          angela.newlands@glasgow.ac.uk

2. What information we collect

When you apply for membership, we ask you for:

  • Full name

  • Email address

  • Job title

  • Health Board / Place of Work

  • The name and email address of two existing members who are proposing your membership

We do not ask for, and you should not include, any special category data (such as health information about yourself) on this form.

3. Dietary requirements and food allergies (conference attendees only)

If you are registering to attend the SHS Annual Conference, we will also ask whether you have any dietary requirements or food allergies.

This is health-related information, which UK GDPR treats as special category data requiring extra protection. We only collect it with your explicit, separate consent, and only use it to arrange catering and manage any relevant safety needs at the conference. You do not have to provide this information. If you have a severe allergy you would prefer to discuss directly rather than note on a form, please contact us using the details in Section 1.

4. Why we collect it, and our legal basis

We use your information to:

  • Maintain the Society's membership register

  • Send you Society communications, including newsletters, event invitations and AGM notices

  • Administer voting in Society elections and AGMs, including trainee representative elections

  • Verify your membership application with your proposing members

Our legal basis for this processing is legitimate interests (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(f)): it is necessary for SHS to operate as a member-run professional body, and processing is limited to what is needed for that purpose. Where we ask for a separate, optional tick-box consent (for example, for communications beyond core membership business), our legal basis for that specific processing is consent (Article 6(1)(a)), which you may withdraw at any time.

5. How we get your information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

  • When you register as a member of SHS

  • When you contact us or correspond with us to attend an SHS event

  • When you contact us or correspond with us to apply for a bursary

We use the information you have given us to send you membership communications in relation to essential membership services (including but not limited to annual meeting communications and general meeting notices), and to share other information relevant to the haematology community.

6. Information about your proposing members

Because you provide us with the name and email address of two proposing members, we are also processing their personal data. Before you submit the form, please tell your proposing members that you are sharing their name and email address with SHS, and that we will contact them to confirm they support your application.

7. How long we keep your information

Your information is securely stored. We keep your name, job title, place of work and email address for the duration of your membership. We will then dispose of your information by deleting it.

Dietary requirements and food allergy information provided for the Annual Conference is kept only until the conference has concluded, after which it is deleted.

8. Who we share your information with

We do not sell or share your personal information with third parties for their own marketing purposes. Your information is processed by the following providers on the Society's behalf:

  • Our website hosting provider, Squarespace

  • Outlook and Google Sheets, used by SHS committee members to review and verify membership applications

Squarespace, Microsoft (Outlook) and Google are based outside the UK. Where this involves transferring your information outside the UK, these providers rely on internationally recognised safeguards, such as the UK extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses. Contact us using the details in Section 1 if you would like more information about these safeguards.

Access to shared spreadsheets containing membership data is limited to committee members involved in the application process.

Where you provide dietary requirements or food allergy information for the Annual Conference, this is shared only with the conference venue and catering provider, solely to arrange your meals safely.

9. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Access the personal information we hold about you

  • Ask us to correct inaccurate information

  • Aask us to erase your information, subject to our record-keeping obligations

  • Restrict or object to certain processing

  • Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent

  • Request a copy of your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 1.

10. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.