Accessing your personal data

All staff and students (and any other person whose personal data the University processes) have the right to access their personal data.

Staff will usually have access to their HR records via their staff portal, or via informal request to their Head of School or Department, or to HR. We would recommend that you approach your HR advisor in the first instance to see if the information can be provided informally.

Students wishing to update or check the accuracy of the personal data held about them centrally can use the RISIS web portal, or call into Student Services.

If you wish to be unsubscribed or be removed from a marketing list or research participant list or register you can contact the department concerned and request this without submitting an access request.

Any person wishing to access their personal data under the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 should make a Subject Access Request (SAR). Requests can be made verbally or in writing, however to ensure we can locate the data you seek and verify the data that is about you, we would encourage you to use the Subject Access Form provided.

Your request will be processed by a very limited number of staff within the IMPS team, under the supervision of the University IMPS (Data Protection) Officer, who will be required to view all the data you request, including personnel, financial and occupational health records. By submitting a Subject Access Request you are accepting that the IMPS team will need to request and view the data about you in order to assess what can be disclosed. Information of third parties, including staff in some circumstances may be withheld. All data will be handled securely and in the strictest confidence. If you have any concerns please contact IMPS in the first instance.

Exam scripts are exempt from the right to subject access.

Making a subject access request

You can download the Subject Access Request form here, or alternatively hard copies can be obtained from the IMPS Office.

The Data Protection Officer has a duty to establish the identity of the requester. The identification required can vary depending on your relationship with the University and the nature of the data requested. You will be advised what ID verification is required, which may include a series of questions or ID documents.

The Data Protection Officer will then coordinate the gathering together of the appropriate information. The University will comply with SARs as quickly as possible but will ensure that the information is provided within 1 calendar month from receipt of identification unless there is good reason for delay. Data protection laws allow for an extension of up to 2 months for responding to very complex requests. If you are able to describe the data you seek clearly this is less likely. We may also refuse requests that are deemed manifestly unfounded or excessive and reserve the right to charge a fee. In such cases the reason for refusal, delay, or any fees payable will be explained in writing.

Examinations

Examination scripts, and other assessment work or field work, are expressly exempted from the normal data subject access rules under the Data Protection Act. This means that the University is under no obligation to permit examination candidates to have access either to their original scripts or copies of the scripts.

However, examiners' comments are not covered by this exemption. To request a copy of examiners' comments a student should submit a subject access request to IMPS, as explained in the section above. We would encourage students seeking feedback on examinations to contact their Student Support Centre and Academic Tutor.