Space Sector Skills Survey Privacy Policy

Last updated: 23rd April 2023

Summary

This policy in 6 points:

  1. We collect data as part of the survey, including some personal information. We’re doing this as part of research about the space sector and how it can be improved.
  2. We also record anonymous information about you when you visit our website to assess visitor numbers. This information is not linked to your survey response. We do not use tracking or analytics software.
  3. We share some data with our partners and some data publicly, but never in a way that makes any individual or organisation identifiable.
  4. We take data security very seriously and do everything in our power to keep your personal information secure. We limit access to the people in our team who need it, we keep the amount we hold to a minimum, we try not to hold on to it for longer than is necessary, and we protect it with passwords and other security measures.
  5. You have the right to access and correct the personal data we store about you, to restrict what we do with it, and to ask us to remove it entirely.
  6. This privacy policy only covers your interactions with us as part of the Space Sector Skills Survey 2023. It doesn’t cover using our main website, or interacting with us on social media.

Introduction

This document covers data collection as part of the Space Sector Skills Survey 2023 (‘the survey’). It does not cover using our main website, or interacting with us on social media. That is covered by our separate Web Privacy Policy.

This document may be updated from time to time by agreement of the survey delivery partners. We will notify you by email if we store your personal information and you will be affected by the changes.

If you would like to see this policy include something else, or have any questions, please email us at info@spaceskills.org. You can also raise data privacy concerns directly with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Who is running this survey

The survey is being conducted by Space Skills Alliance and know.space (the data processors), on behalf of the UK Space Agency / Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (the data controller). Together these three organisations are referred to in this document as the ‘survey delivery partners’.

UK Space Agency / Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

The data controller is the UK Space Agency (UKSA), an executive agency of the UK Government, sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

You can contact the DSIT Data Protection Officer at:

DSIT Data Protection Officer
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
1 Victoria Street, London
SW1H 0ET

dataprotection@beis.gov.uk

The UK Space Agency have appointed a Data Protection Manager (DPM) to oversee compliance with this privacy notice on behalf of the DSIT Data Protection Officer. For any queries, please contact the UKSA DPM in the first instance, at GDPR@ukspaceagency.gov.uk.

Space Skills Alliance

Space Skills Alliance is a data processor for this project.

‘Space Skills Alliance’ refers to Space Skills Ltd, registered company number 12209851. It is registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), with registration reference ZA828423. Its Data Protection Officer is Joseph Dudley (joseph@spaceskills.org).

know.space

know.space is a data processor for this project.

‘know.space’ refers to KNOW. CONSULTING LIMITED, registered company number 12152408. It is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) with registration reference ZA701211. Its Data Protection Officer is Greg Sadlier (greg@know.space).

What we collect

Requesting a reminder

When you request a reminder, we ask for your email address so that we can send you that reminder. We collect and use it under the legal basis of legitimate interest, and only in order to send you that reminder. Reminder emails aren’t linked in any way to survey responses.

Completing the survey

The survey collects information primarily about your organisation, as well as small amount of personal information about you:

  • Name
  • Position
  • Employer
  • Email address

We ask for your explicit consent to store and process your data and your organisation’s data.

Anonymity

This survey is not anonymous as it is important to know who is answering the survey so that we can properly interpret the results. However, no identifying information will be shared beyond the survey delivery partners. Aggregate data will be made publicly available and may also be privately shared with relevant organisations such as regional space clusters.

Follow-up research

You have the option of volunteering to take part in follow-up research. As with all the questions in the survey, this is optional.

The exact follow-up research will depend on the results of the survey. If, for example, we found that large companies are particularly struggling to recruit graduates, then we might want to interview some hiring managers at large companies in order to better understand this problem and how it might be addressed.

We will use your email address only for contacting you about this survey. We won’t share your email address with anyone, add you to any mailing list, or retain your email address for longer than we need to.

Accessing the website

We store up to two distinct kinds of records, explained below, when you access the survey website. The data is processed to compile statistical reports on website activity. It is not linked in any way to your survey response.

Server logs

Our web server automatically logs all requests for webpages. This is standard procedure for most websites.

This means that whenever anyone or anything loads one of our webpages or submits data, the action will be logged. Each log entry contains the requester’s IP address (a kind of name computers use to identify each other), some details about the browser they are using, and the name of the page that has been requested (more information can be found here). All such logs are anonymous.

Server logs are stored by our web host on their servers. We rarely use full server logs, but from time to time they are analysed by our team to troubleshoot problems, particularly spam attacks.

Internal logs

Additionally we run our own logging system that operates in a similar way but only logs the visitor’s IP address and the details of the page they are visiting. All such logs are anonymous, and are stored in our database indefinitely.

Cookies

We store a cookie on your computer when you complete the survey. This cookie does not identify you, and only serves to prevent you from resubmitting the survey form.

Tracking and analytics

We do not use tracking software on the survey website.

How we store and protect the data

When you submit the survey, the data is stored securely in a password-protected database. Only we have access to this database.

We take data security very seriously and do everything in our power to keep your personal information secure.

  • We audit our data to ensure we are keeping only information we need
  • We carefully limit what can be accessed publicly, and protect the rest with passwords
  • We use protocols such as HTTPS, Single Sign On, and Multi Factor Authentication to minimise the chances of someone intercepting data or one of our passwords
  • We monitor our servers and databases for suspicious activity

Service providers

The webpages and databases are hosted on web servers owned and operated on our behalf by our hosting provider Heroku, a subsidiary of Salesforce. These servers store the files and database for our websites and provide them to website visitors and our team.

We may also transfer some or all of the data to Google Drive, a cloud storage service provided by Google.

Data breaches

We have a comprehensive action plan and checklist for data breach incidents. If we identify that personal data has been exposed, we will make this news public and notify any affected individuals. We will also act to identify the cause of the breach and take steps to prevent it from happening again.

How we use and share the data

Reminders

When you provide your email address for a reminder, we keep it for the duration you specify and then send you a reminder email. Once that email is sent, we delete your email address.

Reminder emails aren’t linked in any way to survey responses.

Survey responses

Once the survey is completed, we will analyse the data to look for trends and test some hypotheses. The results of this analysis will be published in one or more reports, alongside recommendations for actions that the sector can take to address its skills shortages.

For example, if we find that space companies are particularly struggling to recruit software engineers, we might recommend that more funding be put towards software-related training schemes.

Some data and reports will be public, others may only be shared between the survey delivery partners. Any information published publicly will first be processed in order to ensure that no individual or company is identifiable.

Your rights

  1. The right to be informed – You have a right to be informed about how we collect, process, and store your personal data. This information is provided in this document.
  2. The right of access – You have a right to access the personal data we store about you.
  3. The right to rectification – You have a right to have inaccurate details corrected.
  4. The right to erasure – You have a right to have personal data erased.
  5. The right to restrict processing – You have a right to restrict the way in which we process your personal data.
  6. The right to data portability – You have the right to obtain the personal data we store about you in a structured machine readable format.
  7. The right to object – You have the right to object to the way in which we process your personal data.
  8. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – This right does not apply as we do not engage in automated decision making or profiling.

To exercise any of the rights listed above, please email us including your name and outlining the ways in which you have interacted with us. You must also provide proof of identity, which can include sending the email from an address we have on record.

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