PRIVACY NOTICES

Last updated: November 2025

SUMMARY

The information on this page and via the links below sets out how and why The Polar Citizen Science Collective (“we”, “us”, “Polar Collective” or “our”) may use your personal information.

Polar Collective collects different information about people depending on the services or relationship we have with them.

Please see the individual sections below to see full details of how we handle personal data. Each of these sections supplements this notice and provides further detail (and should be read in conjunction with this notice).

Who are we?

Polar Collective is an organisation engaged in the creation of opportunities for research and public education through citizen science. We are registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with the Charity Commission under number 1191998 and at 27 Oaktree Crescent, Cockermouth, Cumbria, CA13 9HR.

Personal data is any information that identifies you, which includes your name, email address, and contact details. We are known as a “controller” of your personal data. This is a legal term – it means that we make decisions about how and why we process your personal data, which is why we are responsible for making sure it is used in accordance with data protection laws. When we “process” your data, this includes collecting, storing, using, consulting or transmitting that data.

The person responsible for how we look after your personal data is our Data Protection Lead, who you can contact via:

Email:info@polarcollective.org.

Why do we use your information?

We collect different types of data about you for different reasons and use your information to provide our services to you (or you to us). For example, we may use your information to contact you, respond to your queries, inform you of changes, or ensure our services are fit for purpose.

Whilst we typically only use your personal information for the purposes we collect it, there may be limited circumstances where we use it for a purpose other than those set out in this notice. If we intend to do so, we will provide you with information relating to that other purpose before using it for the new purpose.

Where use is required or permitted by law, or when it is compatible with the purpose for which we have originally stated, we may use your personal information without your knowledge or consent.

What happens if you do not provide your personal information?

If you do not provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract with you (e.g. making payments without your bank information) or otherwise comply with legal obligations.

Legal framework

We use your information in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, as well as other relevant regulations and guidance, which we refer to elsewhere as the “Data Protection Laws”.

Lawful basis

The Data Protection Laws require us to always have a permitted reason or justification (called a “lawful basis”) for processing your personal data, of which there are six such permitted lawful bases. Each link below goes into detail about the lawful basis that we have identified, as well as when we need to share your information with other people or organisations.

Special categories of personal data

For sensitive or “special categories” of personal data, we are required by law to treat such data with even more care. Examples of special category data may include information about your health and, occasionally, information on your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs and sexual orientation (including marital status). If the processing of special category data is relevant to our relationship with you, we provide further details on the nature and purposes of such processing under the relevant links to this privacy notice (e.g., head office contractors and members of the board).

Your rights

The Data Protection Laws give you rights, which you can use to manage your information. Some of the rights only apply in specific circumstances or to a limited extent. These are:

Right of access (commonly known as a “data subject access request”): the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.

Right to data portability: the right to have the data we hold about you to be transferred to you or to another party in a useful format.

Right of rectification: the right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete. You have a responsibility to help us keep your personal information accurate and up to date, and we encourage you to notify us of any changes regarding your personal data.

Right to object: the right to say no to, or ask us to restrict, certain processing of your personal data.

Right to erasure: the right to have your data deleted where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it.

Right to withdrawal of consent: the right to withdraw your consent at any time where our processing of your personal data is based on your consent (though this does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal). We must stop processing your personal data unless there is another lawful basis upon which we can rely, in which case we would let you know.

Right to complain: if you are not happy with the way your information is handled you have the right to complain directly to us and ask for an internal review. We will acknowledge complaints within 30 days and respond to them without undue delay. On our review and response, if you are still not happy with the way that we have handled your information, you have the right to escalate to the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), which is UK data protection regulator. More information can be found on the ICO’s website here.

Where our processing of your personal data is necessary for our legitimate interests, you can object to this processing at any time. If you do this, we will need to show either a compelling reason for our processing to continue, which overrides your interests, rights and freedoms, or that the processing is necessary for us to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights or talk to us about how your data is processed, please contact our Data Protection Lead using the contact details that we have provided above. If you have any queries relating to your rights in this area, please do get in touch.

Do we use automated decision making?

We do not currently use, and do not anticipate using, any automated decision making in relation to your personal information (i.e. where decisions are made by a computer only without human interaction). If this changes, we will update this notice.

Transferring your personal information internationally

If any of our processing activities require your personal data to be transferred outside the EU and UK, we will only make that transfer if:

the country to which the personal data is to be transferred ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data;
we have put in place appropriate safeguards to protect your personal data, such as an appropriate contract with the recipient;
the transfer is necessary for one of the reasons specified in data protection legislation, such as the performance of a contract between us and you; or
you explicitly consent to the transfer.

Security of your information

We will take specific steps (as required) to protect your personal data from unlawful or unauthorised processing and accidental loss, destruction, damage and disclosure. We limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a need to know.

Third party processors will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat your information confidentially and keep it secure.

How long do we keep your information?

We retain your personal information for the duration of your relationship with us and then, for a period defined by legal, accounting or reporting requirements. If you would like further information on our retention periods, please reach out to our Data Protection Lead for a copy of our retention schedule.

Third party links

This website may contain third party links to other sites, such as Facebook and our project partners. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of these sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave this website and to read the privacy statements applicable on those sites. This privacy notice does not apply to information that is collected on third parties’ sites.

Changes to this privacy notice

We may update this privacy notice, or any section supplementing this notice from time to time, after which we will update the version date at the top of this notice or section. We therefore encourage you to check the notice for such updates on a regular basis.

Contacting us

If you would like this privacy notice in another format to assist with your understanding, such as large print, or have any further questions or concerns that you would like to raise with us, please do not hesitate to contact our Data Protection Lead, using their details provided above.

PRIVACY NOTICE: WEBSITE VISITORS

This privacy notice tells you what to expect as a visitor to our website regarding the personal information collected and processed by The Polar Citizen Science Collective (“we”, “us”, “Polar Collective” or “our”).

Please read this notice in conjunction with the Summary section above.

Key points

We use cookies on our website and these collect personal data.
We use third-party service providers and some of your information will be shared with them.
We respect the security of your data and treat it in accordance with the law.
We may transfer your personal information outside the EU and the UK. If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.

Source of your personal information

We will gather this information from you when you visit our website or from cookies placed on your browser.

What do we do with your personal information, and why?

We are required by law to always have a permitted reason or justification (“lawful basis”) for processing your personal information. There are six such permitted lawful bases for processing personal data, of which the most relevant to website visitors are set out below.

The table below describes the categories of your information involved, the main purposes for which we process your personal data with respect to such information and our lawful basis for being able to do this.

In limited circumstances, we may use your information for a purpose other than those set out in the table, but only where that complies with the Data Protection Laws. Please note that we do not collect special category data when you browse our website.

Purposes of processing personal information

For some processing activities, we consider that more than one lawful basis may be relevant, depending on the circumstances.

Purposes of processing

Lawful basis

We are permitted to process your personal data because

1. You have given your consent to the processing

2. It is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of third parties

Data: name, email address, phone number, professional title, address, nationality, gender, affiliation and/or business name, social media contacts, tour operator (e.g. guide or head office contact), profession

Purpose: respond to queries, review usefulness of website, what does or does not engage visitors, improve services, enable purchase options

(to maximise your experience, respond to your queries, understand our website’s usefulness, as well as improve and enable certain necessary services)

Data: IP addresses, usage data, cookies data, online navigation data, browser data, and geographical location (i.e. identifiable IT information)

Purpose: respond to queries, review usefulness of website, what does or does not engage visitors, improve services, enable purchase options

(to help make our website function properly and enables us to see what people are interested in viewing)

Data: photographs, social media handles, name, email, nationality, professional title, profession

Purpose: for publishing, media and marketing

Sharing your information

We share your personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

where required by law (e.g. HMRC or other regulators, such as the Charity Commission or police), or where otherwise required (e.g. by relevant government departments); and/or
to third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents), such as the website hosting company and cookie tool companies (including the website provider and Google Analytics), social media companies, IT service providers, auditors, legal advisers, banks or other financial institutions.

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies.

Updates and changes to your information

Please keep us updated with any changes to your information, contact details and preferences. You can do this by contacting our Data Protection Lead, using their details provided above.

PRIVACY NOTICE: DONORS

This privacy notice tells you what to expect as a private individual donor regarding the personal information collected and processed by The Polar Citizen Science Collective (“we”, “us”, “Polar Collective” or “our”).

Please read this notice in conjunction with the Summary section above.

Key points

We use third-party service providers (e.g. cloud services) and some of your information will be shared with them.
We respect the security of your data and treat it in accordance with the law.
We may transfer your personal information outside the EU and the UK. If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.

Source of your personal information

We will gather this information from communication with you or a professional contact and in relation to the processing of donations.

What do we do with your personal information, and why?

We are required by law to always have a permitted reason or justification (“lawful basis”) for processing your personal information. There are six such permitted lawful bases for processing personal data, of which the most relevant to private individual donors are set out below.

The table below describes the categories of your information involved, the main purposes for which we process your personal data with respect to such information and our lawful basis for being able to do this.

In limited circumstances, we may use your information for a purpose other than those set out in the table, but only where that complies with the Data Protection Laws. Please note that we do not collect special category data when we interact with you as a private individual donor.

Purposes of processing personal information

Purposes of processing

Lawful basis

We are permitted to process your personal data because

1. It is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of third parties

Data: name, email address, phone number, professional title, address, nationality, gender, affiliation or business name, social media contacts, tour operator (e.g., if a guide or head office contact), profession

Purpose: to process the donations and communicate with donors

(to assist with contacting donors, and processing and receiving donations for the furtherance of our charity)

Data: amount donated or fundraised and at which date

Purpose: to process the donations and communicate with donors

(to record the amount and date on which the donation and/or fundraising arises so as to process the donation)

Data: credit or debit card information, bank details, account information

Purpose: to enable the payment and processing of donations, as well as communication with donors

(to enable the payment and processing of donations)

Sharing your information

We share your personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

where required by law (e.g. HMRC or other regulators, such as the Charity Commission or police), or where otherwise required (e.g. by relevant government departments); and/or
to third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents), such as IT service providers, auditors, legal advisers, banks or other financial providers and institutions (including PayPal and Stripe).

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies.

Updates and changes to your information

Please keep us updated with any changes to your information, contact details and preferences. You can do this by contacting our Data Protection Lead, using their details provided above.

PRIVACY NOTICE: SCIENTISTS

This privacy notice tells you what to expect if you are a scientist, or otherwise part of their team, regarding the personal information collected and processed by The Polar Citizen Science Collective (“we”, “us”, “Polar Collective” or “our”).

Please read this notice in conjunction with the Summary section above.

Key points

We use third-party service providers (e.g. cloud services) and some of your information will be shared with them.
We respect the security of your data and treat it in accordance with the law.
We may transfer your personal information outside the EU and the UK. If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.

Source of your personal information

Depending on the purpose for which we process your personal information, we will gather this information mainly from you, operators, field staff and guests.

What do we do with your personal information, and why?

We are required by law to always have a permitted reason or justification (“lawful basis”) for processing your personal information. There are six such permitted lawful bases for processing personal data, of which the most relevant to scientists, or those who are a part of their team, are set out below.

The table below describes the categories of your information involved, the main purposes for which we process your personal data with respect to such information and our lawful basis for being able to do this.

In limited circumstances, we may use your information for a purpose other than those set out in the table, but only where that complies with the Data Protection Laws. Please note that we do not collect special category data when we interact with you as a scientist or those who are part of their team.

Purposes of processing personal information

For some processing activities, we consider that more than one lawful basis may be relevant, depending on the circumstances.

Purposes of processing

Lawful basis

We are permitted to process your personal data because

1. You have given your consent to the processing

2. It is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of third parties

3. For the performance of the contract between us

Data: name, email address, phone number, professional title, address, nationality, gender, affiliation or business name, social media contacts, profession

Purpose: to contact you, for background checks and to review project applications, to manage the science collaboration, and to develop training materials or otherwise enter into collaboration

Data: photographs and videos of scientists and their teams, social media contact data

Purpose: to use for marketing and social media posts to promote our work, and to use within the training platform

(to run Polar Collective smoothly, identify colleagues for contact purposes, promote our work, and make us more engaging and informative)

Data: name (e.g., via operator end of season reports, including comments about scientists)

Purpose: to improve guest and operator experience, develop training and to provide feedback

(to run Polar Collective smoothly and identify colleagues for contact purposes)

Sharing your information

We share your personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

where required by law (e.g. HMRC or other regulators, such as the Charity Commission or police), or where otherwise required (e.g. by relevant government departments); and/or
to third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents), such as operators, social media companies, our training platform (as provided by LearnWorlds), IT service providers, auditors, legal advisers, banks or other financial institutions.

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies.

Updates and changes to your information

Please keep us updated with any changes to your information, contact details and preferences. You can do this by contacting our Data Protection Lead, using their details provided above.

PRIVACY NOTICE: BUSINESS CONTACTS

This privacy notice tells you what to expect if you are one of our business contacts regarding the personal information collected and processed by The Polar Citizen Science Collective (“we”, “us”, “Polar Collective” or “our”).

Business contacts may include operator staff, website developers, legal consultants, accountants, journalists, external advisors, polar travellers, private expedition contacts, polar guides and other interested parties (for example individuals we encounter at conferences and industry events).

Please read this notice in conjunction with the Summary section above.

This notice does not form part of any contract, including license agreement, to provide goods or services. We may update this notice at any time.

Key points

We use third-party service providers (e.g. for cloud services) and some of your information will be shared with them.
We respect the security of your data and treat it in accordance with the law.
We may transfer your personal information outside the EU and the UK. If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.

Source of your personal information

Depending on the purpose for which we process your personal information, we will gather this information from you, the relevant operator, and via recommendations.

What do we do with your personal information, and why?

We are required by law to always have a permitted reason or justification (“lawful basis”) for processing your personal information. There are six such permitted lawful bases for processing personal data, of which the most relevant to business contacts are set out below.

The table below describes the categories of your information involved, the main purposes for which we process your personal data with respect to such information and our lawful basis for being able to do this.

In limited circumstances, we may use your information for a purpose other than those set out in the table, but only where that complies with the Data Protection Laws. Please note that we do not collect special category data when you browse our website.

Purposes of processing personal information

Purposes of processing

Lawful basis

We are permitted to process your personal data because

1. It is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of third parties

Data: name, email address, phone number, professional title, address, nationality, gender, affiliation or business name, social media contacts, tour operator (if a guide or head office contact), profession

Purpose: to raise awareness, connect with potential corporate donors and/or potential science partners, tour operator partners and other interested parties, respond to queries about us, share stories, photographs and links to social media stores about our work and on our website, and connect with other experts for advice or project reviews

(to contact professionals for the supply of services and goods)

Data: bank details, tax number, VAT-ID and Contact Information

Purpose: to provide payment for services and expenses

(to contact professionals for the supply of goods and services, and enable payment for services and expenses)

Sharing your information

We share your personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

where required by law (e.g. HMRC or other regulators, such as the Charity Commission or police), or where otherwise required (e.g. by relevant government departments); and/or
to third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents), such as operators, scientists, IT service providers, auditors, legal advisers or other advisers, as well as banks or other financial institutions.

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information either by contract with us and/or under their own respective regulatory responsibilities under data protection and other laws.

Updates and changes to your information

Please keep us updated with any changes to your information, contact details and preferences. You can do this by contacting our Data Protection Lead, using their details provided above.