A new
enabler for
health and care
improvement.
Designed to help everyone take part
Hearing from more people creates stronger evidence. Involving more views gives researchers better understanding about a topic and builds more credible results to help bring about positive change.
Thiscovery makes it possible for more people to get involved in research and consultation projects. This helps to improve healthcare and solve other social questions in the UK.
Delivering a better way to engage with people
Giving people an accessible and meaningful way to share their experience and expertise is important. Thiscovery’s participant experience is carefully crafted and designed through innovation and evidence-based methods.
Learn how Thiscovery works
Created by a team that’s passionate about change
Thiscovery is developed by a dedicated team with roots in THIS Institute – a research centre at the University of Cambridge, made possible by the Health Foundation.
Meet the team
- Personal Information
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Introduction
The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS Institute) at the University of Cambridge is committed to protecting your personal data, which is also referred in this policy to as “personal information”. This policy applies to both our websites (thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk and thiscovery.org). It explains what personal information we gather when you visit our websites and details how that information is used.
Please read this policy carefully to understand how we collect, use, store and otherwise process your personal data. If you do not agree with the data practices described in this privacy policy, you should not use thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk and thiscovery.org.
If you have any questions about this policy or our treatment of the information you provide us, please email enquiries@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk.
Personal information
Personal information is information that can be used to identify you. This refers to information that you voluntarily submit to us that identifies you personally. It can include your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, and other information about yourself or your organisation.
We collect your personal information when you create a Thiscovery account, subscribe to updates from THIS Institute, complete an activity with us, register/attend an event or webinar, or otherwise give us personal information.
Personal information also includes navigational information where such information can directly or indirectly identify an individual. Navigational information refers to information about your device and visits to the website(s) which includes the IP address, date and time of connection, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit, and pages viewed. We may use and disclose it as necessary in the event of a security concern or incident.
When you visit our websites we use third-party services, including Google Analytics and HubSpot, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site.
For information about how Google Analytics uses your personal information, please see http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.
For information about how HubSpot handles your personal information, please see https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy.
We use a third-party service, MyInterview, to conduct video interviews as part of Thiscovery projects. For information about how MyInterview uses your personal information, please see https://www.myinterview.com/terms.html#privacy
We also use a third-party service for scheduling live interviews, named Acuity. Acuity is a SquareSpace company. For information about how Acuity uses your personal information, please see https://www.squarespace.com/privacy.
When you visit www.thiscovery.org and participate in Thiscovery projects, we use a third-party service, Qualtrics to gather answers to survey questions or to collect uploaded files such as photos. We collect your IP address as part of this process. For more information about how Qualtrics uses your personal information, please see Qualtrics Data Protection and Privacy.
For information about how we use cookies on our websites, please see our cookie policy below.
How do we use your information?
The use of your personal information in the ways described above is necessary for the legitimate interests of The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute (THIS Institute) in operating and improving its websites, analysing use, and ensuring security.
We also use your personal information to give you the information, services or products you ask for. We can also use your information for administrative purposes, to let you know about changes within THIS Institute and Thiscovery, and to inform you of other THIS Institute activities.
THIS Institute will not, under any circumstances, share or sell your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes and you will not receive offers from other companies or organisations as a result of giving your details to us.
We will never release personal contact information to third parties without your express permission, except for the specific third-party services described above. We will comply with legal requests where disclosure is required or permitted by law (for example to government bodies for tax purposes or law enforcement agencies for the prevention and detection of crime, subject to such bodies providing us with a relevant request in writing).
If you register for a Thiscovery account in order to participate in our research, our Terms of Use will apply to your input and contributions to research projects, which will be anonymised in compliance with GDPR and other data protection legislation applicable in the UK. If you choose to give us a `publishable name’ on registration, this is available to research teams in projects you choose to participate in, for purposes of providing credit or authorship for your contributions in published papers and elsewhere.
We may also use your personal information to:
- conduct surveys and process your response to any survey you participate in for market research purposes
- analyse and improve the content and provide the most user-friendly browser experience
- keep your data up to date and ensure we do not send unwanted information to those who have informed us that they do not want to receive it
- implement any instructions you give us to erase or cease using your personal data, or to access the personal data that we hold about you
- for internal record keeping so as to keep a record of your relationship with us
- maintain the knowledge of actions and engagements to understand the long-term effectiveness and impact of these actions on the goals of The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute
We may, from time to time and if you indicate that would like to hear from us, contact you on behalf of our partners about a particular opportunity or event that may be of interest to you. We never transfer your personal information to the third party.
Log files
When you visit our websites we automatically collect information about your computer hardware and software. This information can include your IP address, browser type, operating system, domain name, internet service provider, pages viewed on our website, clickstream data, access time, and referring website addresses. This information is used to provide general statistics regarding use of our websites. For these purposes, we do link this automatically collected data to personal information such as name and email address.
Information we collect from third parties
From time to time, we may receive personal information about you from third-party sources including partners with which we offer joint activities and services, and publically available sources such as social media websites.
How do we protect your personal information?
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure that we keep your information secure, accurate and up to date, and that we only keep it as long as is reasonable and necessary.
Although we use appropriate security measures once we have received your personal information, the transmission of information when you submit it over the internet is never completely secure. We do our best to protect personal information, but we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to our website, so any transmission is at the user’s own risk.
How to access your information or change your account preferences
The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you think any information we have about you is incorrect, outdated or incomplete, you can login to your Thiscovery account at any time to update your personal information. If you do not have a Thiscovery account or you are unsure how to update your personal information, please contact us via enquiries@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk.
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from THIS Institute and Thiscovery marketing communications at any time by:
- logging in to your Thiscovery account
- clicking on ‘manage your subscription preferences’ or the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of marketing emails
- or by emailing us at enquiries@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk
You also have the right to ask to access your personal information, and to ask us to delete your personal information, or otherwise restrict our processing, or to object to processing (including the receipt of direct marketing) or to receive an electronic copy of the personal information you provided to us.
If you have any questions about how your personal information is used, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact enquiries@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk. On receipt of your request, we will let you know the statutory deadline by which we will reply. If you are unhappy with the way your information is handled, or with the response received from us, you can contact the University’s Data Protection Officer (dpo@admin.cam.ac.uk). You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF (www.ico.org.uk).
Transferring personal data to a country outside the EEA
Personal data we hold may also be processed by staff operating outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who work for us or for one of our third-party service suppliers. We will require them to process your information in compliance with the European data protection regulations. By submitting your personal information to us, you agree that we may transfer, store or process your data at a location outside the EEA as outlined above. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is processed securely and in accordance with this data policy.
Retention of personal information
We will not keep personal data longer than is necessary for the purpose or purposes for which they were collected. We will take all reasonable steps to destroy, or erase from our systems, all data that is no longer required.
We retain personal information that you provide to us where we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so (for example to contact you in accordance with your subscription preferences). We retain information derived from cookies and other tracking technologies for a reasonable period of time from the date information was collected. When we have no ongoing legitimate need to process your personal information, we will securely delete the information or anonymise it.Last updated: 18 May 2020
- Terms of Use
- Terms of Participation
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Terms of Use
These terms tell you the rules for using our website (our site).
Who we are and how to contact us
Thiscovery.org is a site operated by the University of Cambridge. Our principal office is The Old Schools, Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TN.
To contact us, please email enquiries@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk.
By using our site you accept these terms
By using our site, you confirm that you accept these Terms of Use and that you agree to comply with them.
By participating in Thiscovery projects, you confirm that you also accept the Terms of Participation and that you agree to comply with them.
If you do not agree to our terms, you must not use our site or participate in Thiscovery projects.
We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference.
There are other terms that may apply to you
These terms refer to our Privacy Policy (See further under How we may use your personal information), which also applies to your use of our site and participation in Thiscovery projects.
We may make changes to our terms
We amend our terms from time to time. Every time you wish to use our site or participate in Thiscovery projects, please check our terms to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time.
We may make changes to our site
We may update and change our site from time to time.
We may suspend or withdraw our site
Our site is made available free of charge.
We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of our site for business and operational reasons.
Our site is primarily intended for users in the UK and the EU
Our site is primarily directed to people residing in the United Kingdom and the European Union. We do not represent that content available on or through our site is appropriate for use or available in other locations. If you are accessing our site from outside the United Kingdom or European Union, it is your responsibility to ensure that your use of our site (including participation in Thiscovery projects) complies with local laws.
You must keep your account details safe
If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.
We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.
If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at enquiries@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk.
How you may use material on our site
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.
You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on our site.
You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.
You must not use any part of the content on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.
Do not rely on information on this site
The content on our site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete or up to date.
We are not responsible for websites we link to
Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only unless we tell you otherwise. Such links should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked websites or information you may obtain from them.
We have no control over the content of those sites or resources.
Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you
We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
Please note that we only provide our site for domestic and private use. You agree not to use our site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
How we may use your personal information
We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.
Uploading content to our site
Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload content to our site, you must comply with the content standards set out in our Terms of Participation.
You warrant that any such contribution does comply with those standards, and you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty. This means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of warranty.
We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them
We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.
You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.
You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.
You must not modify, disrupt or block any functionality of our site.
Rules about linking to our site
You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.
You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.
Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page.
We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
If you wish to link to or make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact enquiries@thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk.
Which country’s laws apply to any disputes?
These terms of use, their subject matter and their formation, are governed by English law. You and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction except that if you are a resident of Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland, and if you are resident of Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.
Our trade marks are registered
Thiscovery and THIS Institute are UK-registered trade marks of the University of Cambridge. You are not permitted to use them without our approval, unless they are part of material you are using as permitted under How you may use material on our site.
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Terms of Participation
The following terms apply when you participate in Thiscovery projects.
Content standards
You agree that you will not submit or upload to the website or publish or store on the website any material or information which you do not own or have rights to use in accordance with these terms and any material or information which is, or may encourage behaviour which is, unlawful (including, without limitation, material or behaviour which is sexually explicit or pornographic; violent or cruel to humans or to animals; hateful or discriminatory; exploitative of minors; or fraudulent, defamatory or in breach of the confidentiality or privacy rights of any person or organisation).
You understand that we may remove any material or information that we consider to be in breach of these terms.
How we may use your contributions to Thiscovery
In this section, the following definitions apply:
“User Research Input” means all of the input and information that an individual user provides to Thiscovery Projects, via our site, the Cochrane Crowd platform or otherwise, including but not limited to the user’s responses to research questions, research surveys and Thiscovery tasks.
“Research Results” means all knowledge, information, resources and derivative works that we create based on User Research Inputs and our own inputs to Thiscovery Projects. Research Results include collections and amalgamations of User Research Inputs and results, analyses, observations, findings and conclusions derived from or based on these.
Your User Research Input will be considered non-confidential.
You will own your User Research Input and all intellectual property rights of whatever nature throughout the world in and to your User Research Input.
By contributing your User Research Input, you automatically grant to the University of Cambridge a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable licence to use, create derivative works from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, distribute and translate your User Research Input, and to include your User Research Input in any products and services or other works in any media now known or later developed.
You hereby waive all moral rights in your User Research Input to which you may not or at any future time be entitled under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended from time to time and under all similar legislation from time to time in force anywhere in the world.
The University of Cambridge will own Research Results and all intellectual property rights of whatever nature throughout the world in and to Research Results, which it may use, distribute or modify in any way.
Thiscovery projects involving collaborating organisations
For Thiscovery Projects that are based on users performing tasks for systematic reviews of the literature, we are collaborating with The Cochrane Collaborative (“Cochrane”) to enable User Research Input to be submitted through the Cochrane Crowd platform. This will require the sharing of certain of your personal information with Cochrane and Cochrane’s contracted service providers for the specific purpose of managing the secure interface between Thiscovery.org and the Cochrane Crowd platform, and for no other purpose. Such transfer will be governed by legal agreements between the University of Cambridge and Cochrane to ensure that your personal information is kept confidential and used lawfully, so that your rights under all applicable laws and statutes (including the Common Law of Confidentiality, the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and the UK Data Protection Act 2018) are protected. By signing up to take part in projects of this type, you will automatically grant us permission to transfer certain of your personal and confidential information to Cochrane, subject to the conditions described in this paragraph.