The British and Irish Hypertension Society and In Conference Ltd are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains when and why we collect your personal information for example through attending our events, visiting our website or signing up to our mailings lists or joining as a member; how we use this data; the conditions under which we may disclose it to others; and how we keep it secure.
We may change this policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you are happy with any changes. By using our website, you are agreeing to be bound by this policy.
Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to info@bihs.org.uk
Conferences, Events and Mailing Lists
What information we collect
When you sign up on our website to attend an event or to receive news from us, we will collect and process your data to allow us to carry out your request. This information will typically include your name, email address, and company/institution.
For paid events, financial data including your billing address will also be collected and processed by a third-party processor. Our online security controls maintain confidentiality at all times, specifically for secure card payments, but never store card details.
For conferences and events, we may also ask for any special dietary and disability requirements which we will pass onto the venue and/or accommodation provider in order to help us make your attendance at the event as comfortable as possible. Providing this information will always be optional.
We may also retain copies of documents you provide to us as proof of your identity (including passport details) for example when you are claiming a financial bursary award. Along with your bank details we may also keep copies of travel and accommodation receipts if claiming expenses.
Why we collect and process this information and how we will use it
When you sign up to attend a conference/event, we will use your information to process this request. This may include:
- Contacting you before the event with important information, and in some cases immediately afterwards to share any presentations or reports associated with the conference/event.
- Creating a name badge for you, which will contain your full name, organisation and country
- Producing a delegate list with your full name, company and country to be handed out to exhibitors/sponsors, either as a printed document, electronically as a pdf file or loaded onto the conference mobile app. You will always have the option to ask for your name to be withdrawn from this list.
When you sign up to receive news from us, either via the mailing list form or when you sign up to attend a conference/event and give us permission to contact you in future, we will use your data to send you regular emails about upcoming events or research which we think you might be interested in.
We will not share your personal data with any other third-party, unless we have expressly asked permission from you to do so (for example, if we are running a joint conference/event with another organisation, we may ask for your permission to share your details with them).
Lawful basis for processing this information
The lawful basis for processing this information is Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f)).
For anyone who has signed up to attend a conference/event, we have a legitimate interest in processing their data in order to facilitate the running of the event. You have a legitimate interest in us processing the data in this way, as it allows you to attend the event.
We have a legitimate interest in informing members of the public who have expressed an interest in our work (either by directly signing up on our website, or by attending an event and opting in to hearing more about similar events or research) about these topics.
How long we keep your information
We will only hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary to carry out the above uses. For example:
- If you sign up to an event, we will store your data for up to five years after the event. After this period, we will anonymise all data on attendees and keep only attendance numbers and a broad breakdown by sector.
- If you sign up to our mailing list, we will store your data either until you unsubscribe (there will always be an option to opt-out on every email we send) or you have not opened an email from us in the past year.
Membership
What information we may collect
When you sign up to become a member of The British and Irish Hypertension Society, either on our website, or by email, or post, we will collect personal information about you to help us process your membership. This information will typically include your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, billing address and company and/or sector.
Financial data will also be collected to process your membership subscription but will only be stored by a third-party processor. Our online security controls maintain confidentiality at all times, specifically for secure card payments and we never keep payment card details.
We may share your account details with your bank in order to set up a direct debit if you have selected to renew membership in this way.
Why we collect and process this information and how we will use it
Information is sent to members about research and events, based on the stated or assumed interests of those concerned.
We will use your email and postal addresses to send you all membership materials and to invite you to AGMs, where appropriate. We may contact you for feedback on the membership scheme or the running of the Society from time to time.
How long we keep your information
We will hold your personal information for as long as you are a member. After your membership has expired, we will keep your information for as long as is required by UK law, or for up to 2 years, whichever is longer.
Website
What information we may collect
We collect data about traffic to our website using Google Analytics. The data available to us is aggregated and anonymised, so that we cannot access personal information, such as IP addresses, and cannot identify how any individual has used the website.
We may collect information about your computer, including your operating system and browser type, for system administration and in order to create reports. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns and does not identify any individual.
The only cookies in use on our site are for Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a web analytics tool that helps website owners understand how visitors engage with their website.