How we use your personal data

As a publicly funded organisation, we have to ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally identifiable information from people who have agreed to take part in research. 

The legal basis for the processing and storage of your personal data for ASCEND and its sub-studies is that it is ‘a task in the public interest’ (Article 6(1)(e) UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)). In addition, a required condition under the UK GDPR to process your special category (sensitive) personal data is met as it is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes (Article 9(2)(j) UK GDPR). 

This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, we will use your data (including your health data) in the ways needed to conduct and analyse the research study. Health and care research should serve the public interest, which means that we have to demonstrate that our research serves the interests of society as a whole. To ensure we carry out the research to the highest standards we comply with the Clinical Trials Regulation 536/2014 and the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research.