Data Protection and Cookie Policy

This website hosts the MultiEthno-Linguistic Toolkit (MELT), a freely available research toolkit developed by researchers at the University of Plymouth, the University of Southampton and Manipal University College Malaysia.

The data controller for personal information collected through this website is the University of Plymouth. Enquiries about this policy may be addressed to Dr. Sumanth Kumbargere Nagraj, Peninsula Dental School, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA, Plymouth, United Kingdom, or by email to sumanth.kumbargere@plymouth.ac.uk. Formal data protection enquiries may also be directed to the Data Protection Officer of the University of Plymouth.

We handle personal information, research data and unpublished materials with strict confidentiality and in full alignment with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation. We collect only what is necessary for the purpose stated at the point of collection, apply pseudonymisation wherever it is possible to do so, protect information through appropriate technical and organisational measures, and retain it only for as long as it is required.

Where we process personal data in the course of collaborative research, we do so in accordance with the ethical approvals governing that research and under written agreements with our partner institutions.

Enquiries submitted through the contact form. If you contact us, we collect the name and email address you provide, and any further details you choose to give, such as your institution, your country, and the content of your message. We use this information solely to respond to your enquiry and, where you have offered feedback, to inform the continued development of the toolkit. Our lawful basis for this processing is legitimate interests, namely responding to correspondence and improving a publicly available research resource.

Downloads of toolkit materials. We record the total number of times each document is downloaded. This is a simple count and is not linked to any individual. We do not record your name, your email address or your internet protocol address in connection with a download.

Website usage. We use analytics that do not set cookies and do not track individual visitors. The information gathered is aggregated and tells us only which pages are being read and which materials are being used.

We do not sell personal information, we do not use it for marketing, and we do not share it with third parties for their own purposes.

Enquiries received through the contact form are retained for up to twenty four months from the date of the last correspondence, after which they are deleted. Where feedback has informed a revision of the toolkit, we retain only the anonymised substance of that feedback and not the personal details of the person who provided it.

If personal data ever needs to be transferred outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will do so only where a legally approved safeguard is in place. These may include an adequacy decision, or the required contractual protections such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement. Our website hosting provider may store data outside the United Kingdom, and appropriate safeguards are in place with that provider.

You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, and to request its rectification, erasure, restriction or portability. You may also object to our processing of your information. To exercise any of these rights, please write to the correspondence address given above and we will respond within one month.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the supervisory authority for data protection in the United Kingdom, at ico.org.uk (opens in a new tab).

This website uses cookies only where they are strictly necessary for the site to function. We do not use advertising cookies, tracking cookies or third party marketing cookies, and we do not build profiles of our visitors.

Strictly necessary cookies

Security. A cookie may be set to protect the contact form against automated submissions and to maintain the security of your connection while you are using the site.

Administrative access. Where a member of the toolkit team signs in to the administrative area of this website in order to read enquiries or update the toolkit materials, a secure session cookie named session_token is set to maintain that session. This cookie expires after seven days of inactivity and is never set for ordinary visitors to the site.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary for the operation of the website, they do not require your consent and cannot be disabled from within the site. You may manage or block cookies through your browser settings, although doing so may prevent parts of this website from working correctly.

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised.