Privacy

Personal data is any information about you by which you can be identified or be identifiable. It includes information such as your name, email address, and location, and may also include online identifiers, technical information about your device, and records of your interactions with our website, forms, meetings, and communications, where these can be used to identify you or your device.

We currently collect and process the following information abut you when you contact us or engage with United2Act initiatives:

• your contact details, including your name and email
• information about you, such as your role, organisation, or country
• information you provide when expressing interest in or participating in a focus group, including your name, email address, country, job role, organisation, availability, and any information you choose to share in application forms or related correspondence
• information you provide when expressing interest in or participating in training, including your name, email address, country, job role, organisation, institution, and any evaluation or follow-up information connected with the training
• meeting and event administration information, including Doodle responses used to organise meetings and participation
• recordings and transcripts or notes from focus group meetings where Zoom is used to record meetings for note-taking purposes
• technical and usage information collected when you use our website, such as IP address, browser type, device information, pages viewed, and interactions with the website
• cookie and similar technology data, including analytics information collected through the Google Analytics plugin used on the United2Act website, where applicable

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

• because you have indicated an interest in, or are actively supporting the work of United2Act
• because you have requested to be added as a signatory to the Consensus Statement, either as in individual or on behalf of your organisation
• because you have indicated an interest in, or are actively supporting the work of United2Act
• because you have requested to be added as a signatory to the Consensus Statement, either as an individual or on behalf of your organisation
• because you have been approached about possible participation in a focus group connected with United2Act and you choose to submit your details through a form
• because you or your institution have expressed interest in participating in United2Act training, including train-the-trainer activities
• because you attend or take part in a focus group meeting, training session, evaluation activity, or related follow-up communication

We use the information that you have given us in order to support the mission and ongoing activities of United2Act. This includes managing supporter and signatory records; administering focus groups, training, and related meetings; sending essential operational communications; evaluating participation and improving future activities; and maintaining appropriate records of engagement with the initiative.

We will only process your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, and will only use it for another purpose if this could be reasonably assumed to be compatible with the original purpose, or where you give your consent, or where there is another lawful basis to do so.

When you access resources on our website we automatically collect information about how you use our website, including the pages you visit, as well as technical data, such as which browser you use. We use cookies and similar technologies for this purpose. You can read more about cookies in our cookie notice below.

What are cookies?

This Cookie Notice explains what cookies are and how we use them, the types of cookies we use, the information we collect using cookies, how that information is used, and how to manage cookie settings.

Cookies are small text files that are used to store small pieces of information. They are stored on your device when the website is loaded on your browser. These cookies help the website work properly, help improve its security and functionality, and help us understand how the website performs and where it can be improved.

How do we use cookies?

Our website uses first-party and third-party cookies for several purposes.

First-party cookies are mostly necessary for the website to function properly. These cookies are used to provide core site functions, such as security, accessibility, and remembering your cookie preferences.

Third-party cookies used on our website are mainly for understanding how the website performs, and how you interact with our website. This includes the Google Analytics plugin used on the United2Act website, which helps us measure website traffic and usage patterns, such as which pages are visited, how users move through the site and how the site may be improved. Non-essential cookies, including analytics cookies, will only be used where required consent has been obtained. You can see what they are used for, and choose whether you consent to these cookies.

Managing cookies

You can change your cookie preferences any time by clicking the button on the bottom left of your screen.

You can change the settings of your browser to block, or delete existing cookies. wikiHow has an article on how to disable cookies on different web browsers. Please note that blocking some cookies may affect how the website functions.

Further information about cookies and similar technologies is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). 

The ‘lawful basis for processing’ is the legal grounds that permit us to collect your personal data. It is determined based on the specific purpose we collect that data for.

United2Act and COPE rely on the following lawful bases, depending on the activity involved:

• Legitimate interests: when processing personal data to coordinate and promote the aims of United2Act, maintain records of supporters and signatories, organise working groups, administer focuses, focus groups and training activity, communicate with individuals and institutions in connection with those activities, and evaluate and improve the initiative where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
• Consent: where consent is required, including for optional updates about United2Act’s activities and future training opportunities, and for non-essential cookies such as analytics cookies where consent is required.
• Legal obligation: where processing is necessary to comply with applicable legal or regulatory obligations, if relevant. 

Supporters and signatories: When you contact United2Act to ask to be added as a signatory to the Consensus Statement, or to indicate an interest in supporting the work of United2Act the lawful basis for processing will be legitimate interests.

Focus groups: members of a working group may contact individuals known to them to ask whether they are interested in taking part in a focus group. If those individuals decide to proceed they will be asked to provide information, including personal data, via a web form. Their personal data will be processed for the administration of the focus group, meeting organisation, participation management and associated follow-up usually on the basis of legitimate interests.

Focus group meetings may be recorded in Zoom for note-taking purposes. Recordings will only be used for that purpose and access will be limited to the relevant United2Act working group members and, where necessary, individuals at COPE involved in administering the initiative. Doodle may be used to organise meeting times. A United2Act Google account may be used to create forms and store related participant information.

Training: institutions may be contacted by email and invited to complete a form to express interest in participating in training. Personal data submitted through the form will be used to process registrations, deliver the training, send essential information such as training materials and follow-up with evaluation. Access to that personal data will be restricted to relevant members of the United2Act working group and appropriate individuals at COPE.

Updates following training of focus groups: where you choose to tick the box asking to receive updates about United2Act’s activities and future training opportunities, those communications will be sent on the basis of consent. Consent can be withdrawn at any time by using the unsubscribe option in the message or by contacting the address below.

Your personal data will be held and processed securely on our systems. Access to your data is limited to individuals who need it. This may include members of COPE, the United2Act Steering Group, and members of United2Act Working Groups.

Any third party services that we may use to provide processing will be supported by a relevant contract that ensures the security, lawful processing and confidentiality of any personal data shared with them. Depending on the activity, these providers may include website hosting providers, analytics providers, Google Workspace Services, Zoom, Doodle, Monday.com, and other service providers supporting the administration of United2Act. These providers act as data processors for COPE and United2Act and are engaged under contracts that require them to protect personal data and only process it in accordance with instructions.

Where personal data is processed by third party providers outside the UK, appropriate safeguards will be used where required under data protection law.

We will retain your personal data only for as long as necessary for a lawful purpose. The period of retention will vary depending on the nature of our engagement with you. Retention periods will be determined by reference to the purpose for which the data was collected, the nature of the relationship, legal and regulatory requirements and the need to keep appropriate records for administration and accountability.

For example, supporter and signatory information, focus group administration records, training registrations and related correspondence may be retained for as long as necessary to manage the initiative and for a reasonable period afterwards. Meeting recordings made for note-taking will be deleted when they are no longer needed for that purpose.

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights including:

Right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

Right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

Right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances, including where processing is based on legitimate interests.

Right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances. This right generally applies only in limited cases, including where processing is based on consent. 

The rights you have depend on the lawful basis for processing.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Further information about your rights is available on the ICO website (Information Commissioner’s Office).

United2Act does not make any decisions about individuals based on automated processing, including profiling.

If you would like to contact us about the use of your personal data, to exercise your rights as described above, or if you have any concerns or questions about our use of your personal data, please email privacy@united2act.org, or privacy@publicationethics.org. COPE will coordinate responses on behalf of both joint controllers.

If you are unhappy with how we have used your data, you can contact us using the details above. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or you believe that we have breached your data protection rights, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about how we have used your data.

We will update this privacy notice periodically to reflect any changes in our processing of personal data, as well as changes to legislation. When we do this we will change the ‘Last updated’ date on the page, and any changes will apply immediately.

If we make any material changes, we will take reasonable steps to let you know.

We recommend that you review this notice regularly.

Last updated: 22 May 2026