Privacy Notice for the Honorary Awards Process

We collect personal information to carry out the administrative processes required for the honorary award procedures, as outlined below.

Personal information collected about nominees:

The information collected may include the nominee’s full name, professional title, and contact details (such as an email address, telephone number, and, where applicable, the contact details of any agent or assistant). This information is used to contact successful nominees for the purpose of issuing invitations to the degree conferral ceremony.

Biographical information may also be collected to support the assessment of a nomination. We also collect details of any existing honorary awards, whether the nominee has a relationship with BCU and confirmation of any professional or personal connection between the nominee and the proposer.

Information is collected on the nominee in the nomination form that is submitted by the proposer to make the nomination. This may include information from public sources. We collect information, such as biographical information, from a nominee if an award has been approved.

Personal information collected about proposer:

The information collected may include the proposer’s full name, telephone number, email address and confirmation on if there is any personal or professional connection to the nominee.

The lawful basis for processing the personal information of nominees and proposers is ‘legitimate interests’ (which means we need to process the personal information to fulfil our objectives, we believe it will not adversely affect you and we think you would expect it). For photography and filming of successful nominees, the lawful basis for processing this information is consent. Where other lawful bases / special conditions of processing do not apply, we will process your data on the basis of your explicit consent. This often applies for ‘special category data’ which includes information about your health (physical or mental), race, ethnic origin, religious or political beliefs, membership of a trade union and sexual orientation. However, there are other lawful reasons for BCU to process special category data, which includes for equal opportunities purposes, to prevent the loss of life or to defend legal claims.

Personal data will be used to assess nominees against the published criteria for honorary awards. Following the Honorary Awards Committee’s decision to confer an award, successful nominees will be contacted with a formal offer. Nominee information will also be used to confirm arrangements for the graduation ceremonies where the awards will be presented.

The proposer’s personal information will be used to communicate the outcome of the nomination process where possible.

We retain personal information in line with BCU’s Retention Schedule. When this time has been reached, the personal information is securely destroyed.

Your personal data is accessed only by authorised staff involved in the nomination and awards process. Nominations are reviewed by the Honorary Awards Committee, and Deans of Schools may be consulted for feedback on nominations in their areas. All information is stored securely, with access limited to those who require it to perform their duties.

• All Nominees: Nomination forms, including the nominee’s name, professional title and existing awards are shared with the Honorary Awards Committee. Contact details are removed before sharing.
• Successful Nominees: Contact information (email address and telephone phone) is shared with designated staff in the Vice-Chancellor’s office to send formal invitation letters. Information is also shared with the BCU Marketing team.
• Proposers: The information you provide is shared only within the designated staff in the Vice-Chancellor’s office and with the Honorary Awards Committee.

Hard copies of personal information are kept in a secure location and personal data stored electronically is on secure systems within the UK or EU.

The University may receive requests from a nominee or a third-party seeking information about the proposer or the nomination. When a proposer submits a nomination form, consent is sought on whether BCU can disclose the proposer’s name to the nominee or a third-party.

If a nominee is successful and is awarded an honorary award, the following personal data may be shared:

Limited personal data relating to successful nominees that receive an honorary award, including your name, award, and the date and time of your ceremony and your height and hat size will be

shared with Ede & Ravenscroft, the University’s gown hire and ticketing partner. This information is used exclusively to facilitate the gown hire process for honorary graduates.

We share the personal data of honorary award graduates with third parties where necessary as part of the graduation process. We share information with the graduation ceremony venue including information for parking requirements, dietary requirements for catering and accessibility requirements. Information may also be shared relating to an honorary award graduate (and their guest if they have one) with accommodation providers. Where special category data is shared, the relevant condition of processing is equality of opportunity or treatment. In addition to the circumstances stated above we will share your personal information if we believe someone’s life is in danger or we believe we are compelled to by law.

Information relating to honorary awards is included in ceremony brochures and also shared with guests receiving VIP invites to ceremonies. The information may include name, current professional position, a biography and the honorary award being conferred. BCU collects this information from honorary award recipients and they are made aware of what the information will be used for upon collection. BCU may share personal information with an external company if BCU chooses to out-source services to produce the ceremony brochures or materials.

Honorary award recipients are listed on the BCU website. The information includes their name, current professional information, their graduation year and a photograph from their graduation day.

The award ceremonies are live-streamed online. There is also photography and filming ongoing during ceremonies and photography taken of honorary graduates. External photography companies are used by BCU for ceremony photography. The name of the honorary graduate is shared with the external photography company.

Media releases, including imagery, may be created and issued relating to honorary awards. The recipient of the honorary award is aware of this before publication.

You have the right to correct or update your personal data at any time. If you are a BCU student, your main contact for this is the Student Support Centre. If you are a BCU staff member please use ERP or log a ticket on the HR Helpdesk. If you are neither, please contact your main contact at BCU. If you cannot do that, you can contact informationmanagement@bcu.ac.uk.  You may have the right to have your data deleted, the right to restrict processing, the right to object and / or the right to data portability and you have the right to know about and challenge automated decision making and profiling. Follow the links to find out whether those rights apply in these circumstances. To do any of those things or if you have followed the links but would like clarification, please email informationmanagement@bcu.ac.uk.  

You have the right to request to see the personal data we hold about you. You can submit a Subject Access Request (SAR) in accordance with the Subject Access Requests (SAR) Procedure.  

If you have read this privacy notice and would like further information, you’re welcome to contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing informationmanagement@bcu.ac.uk or by post to: Data Protection Officer, Information Management Team, Legal Services, Birmingham City University, Floor 1, Joseph Priestley Building, 6 Cardigan Street, Birmingham, B4 7BD, or by phoning 0121 202 4597. 

If you are not content with how we handle your information, please follow our Data Protection Complaints Procedure. If you have used that procedure and are unsatisfied with the response you have received, you then have the right to complain directly to the Information Commission (IC). You can find out more about this on the IC’s complaints website. 

Birmingham City University’s Data Protection Policy and Appropriate Policy Document 

Birmingham City University’s Privacy Notices   

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) information for members of the public