Data protection and privacy policy

The KOL Connection takes privacy extremely seriously. This privacy policy sets out how we use and protect your personal information and your rights with regards to your personal data. This privacy policy applies to our website and all services offered by The KOL Connection, a company registered in the UK, registration number 05786386, registered office 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW.

The KOL Connection is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK as a Data Controller and complies with EU GDPR, UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. The Data Protection Officer at The KOL Connection is Sandra Jackson.

Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will handle it.

How we collect your personal data and the type of personal data collected

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Personal information when you fill in an enquiry form on our website www.thekolconnection.com/, apply for a job or make an enquiry about research at The KOL Connection. The type of information collected includes name, email, telephone number, IP address and any information provided as part of your enquiry.
  • We may collect information taken from emails, telephone or face to face meetings if we work with you in the role of supplier, agent or client
  • If you consent to take part in our market research studies we may collect data from a variety of sources:
    • From the information you provide to us, or one of our agents or contractors when you initially consent to take part in market research
    • If you enter your personal details into an online questionnaire
    • As a voice recording of an interview for a face-to-face or telephone research project
    • As a video recording of an interview for a face-to-face project
    • When you sign to receive your incentive for face-to-face research
  • We may also receive your personal data, lawfully from our clients if they wish us to ask you if you would like to participate in market research, advisory boards, or other projects.
  • We may also collect your personal data from publicly available sources.

We collect only the minimum amount of personal data necessary which may include:

  • Contact and communications information, such as:
    • Your contact details (including email address(es), telephone number(s) and postal address(es))
    • Records of communications and interactions we have had with you
  • Financial information, including:
    • Your bank account number(s), name(s) and sort code(s) which are used for paying your incentive if you take part in market research
  • Biographical, educational and social information, including:
    • Your name, title, gender, nationality and date of birth
    • Your image and likeness, including as captured in videos of research that takes place at viewing studios
    • Your voice, for example as captured as part of an audio-recording of market research
  • Lifestyle and work-related information, including:
    • Your personal data captured in the work product(s), notes and correspondence you create while engaged in a market research project for The KOL Connection
    • Details of your professional activities and interests
    • Your involvement with and membership of sector bodies and professional associations
  • Commercial/research-related information including:
    • Areas of interest, previous and current job description and responsibilities, previous collaborations

As a patient/caregiver to a patient taking part in healthcare market research, we may also collect special category data for research purposes including:

  • Information on your health and medical conditions (depending on the nature of the research project we are conducting)
  • Information on your racial or ethnic origin
  • Information concerning your sexual life or orientation (as it related to a medical condition discussed as part of a research project)

All personal data will be processed and collected lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

The bases for processing your personal data, how it is used and gaining consent

Legitimate interests

We process your personal data to pursue the legitimate business interests of the company and its clients. Our ‘legitimate interests’ include providing healthcare market research services and ensuring that The KOL Connection is operated in a professional and sustainable manner in accordance with relevant ethical, legal and regulatory duties and requirements.

Legal obligations

We process your personal data in order to comply with our legal obligations, notably those in connection with employment, charity law, tax law and accounting, and child welfare. In this respect, we use your personal data for the following:

  • To meet our legal obligations (for example, with regards to adverse event reporting)
  • For accounting purposes
  • For the prevention and detection of crime, and in order to assist with investigations (including criminal investigations) carried out by the police and other competent authorities.

Special categories of data

We process special categories of personal data (such as data concerning your physical or mental health or conditions(s)) only after obtaining your express consent and only where this is focus of a particular research project.

We use your personal data for the following:

  • To process your enquiry and provide the most appropriate response
  • To process your job application or enquiry regarding employment
  • To contact you in order to take part in market research
  • To pay you in connection with your taking part in market research or other engagement with us
  • For other administrative purposes, for example to update you about changes to your terms and conditions of engagement
  • For internal record-keeping, including the management of any incentive amounts, and adverse event reporting
  • We may also use information in aggregate form to help us analyse, develop and manage the website

Consent

We will inform you, and gain your consent, for how your data will be used and handled. You are free to withdraw or modify your consent at any time. To do this please email sandra.jackson@thekolconnection.com or contact us by telephone on +44 (0)20 3008 8196.

If you have provided us with the personal data of another person (for example, a name of someone who may be interested in participating in one of our market research studies), you confirm that he/she consents to the processing of his/her personal data and that you have informed him/her of our identity as a Data Controller and provided him/her with a copy of this Privacy Policy.

Sharing your personal information with others

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal data to third parties. However, there are some circumstances where your personal data may be shared which we want you to be aware of:

  • We may disclose your personal information to any member of The KOL Connection where necessary to allow that member to respond to any enquiry you make or as part of the market research analysis process
  • Other employees, agents and contractors (e.g. 3rd parties processing data on our behalf). This is not sharing your data in a legal sense as these are considered data processors on our behalf
  • Companies that sponsor the research, if an adverse event or safety issue is raised within the interview. In this situation, you will be asked if you give your consent for your details (and / or your doctor’s details) to be passed on.
  • We may also, with your consent, pass on audio or video footage to help illustrate our findings and help our clients better understand their business issue
  • External auditors and inspectors (such as HM Revenue and Customs)

Storage and security of personal data

Personal data relating to market research will be kept for a maximum of 7 years following the end of each market research project.

If you sign a consent form to take part in market research, your name, the date, and the amount you received as an incentive will be kept for 6 years for accounting and audit purposes.

Information recorded in connection to adverse event reporting may be stored indefinitely, in order to comply with laws around adverse event reporting.

Personal data relating to job applications will be kept for 1 year following the end of the recruitment process.

The data that we collect from you is stored securely on encrypted servers within the EU. We employ a variety of physical, electronic and managerial procedures to keep your personal information safe and to prevent unauthorised access to, or use, or disclosure of it. Unfortunately, no information transmission over the Internet is guaranteed 100% secure nor is any storage of information always 100% secure but we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated security and in accordance with this privacy policy. We will ensure all personal data is disposed of in a secure manner.

Your rights and access to information

If you want to know what information we have collected about you or if you would like us to remove your details from any list under our control please email sandra.jackson@thekolconnection.com  or telephone us on +44 (0)20 3008 8196.

We endeavour to keep all information we hold accurate and up to date. In the unfortunate event of there being any errors or inaccuracies in the data we hold on you, we will erase or amend it upon request.

You can find out more about your rights under applicable data protection legislation from the Information Commissioner’s Office website available at www.ico.org.uk. If you are not satisfied with how we are processing your personal data, or how we deal with your complaint, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner: www.ico.org.uk. The ICO does recommend you seek to resolve any issues with the data controller initially prior to any referral.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we may make to this Policy will be posted on our website www.thekolconnection.com/. When we change this Policy in a material way, we will update the version date at the bottom of this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to this Policy and should you object to any alteration, please email sandra.jackson@thekolconnection.com or telephone us on +44 (0)20 3008 8196 or you can write to us at 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW. By continuing to allow us to hold your information you are accepting any changes made to this policy.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments about our Privacy Policy please email Sandra Jackson, Data Protection Officer sandra.jackson@thekolconnection.com  or telephone us on +44 (0)20 3008 8196. Alternatively, you can write to us at: Data Security Officer, The KOL Connection, 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW

Cookies we use on this website

Analytical cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to the website and to see how they move around within the website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way the website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

Our analytical cookies are all from Google Analytics. Please see the table below for information about each cookie. Further information can be found at the Google Analytics website.

Cookie Name Default Expiration Time Description
__utma 2 years from set/update Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created
when the javascript library executes and no existing
__utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is
sent to Google Analytics.
__utmt 10 minutes Used to throttle request rate.
__utmb 30 mins from set/update Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created
when the javascript library executes and no existing
__utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is
sent to Google Analytics.
__utmc End of browser session Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js.
Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction
with the __utmb cookie to determine whether
the user was in a new session/visit.
__utmz 6 months from set/update Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how
the user reached your site. The cookie is created
when the javascript library executes and is updated every
time data is sent to Google Analytics.
__utmv 2 years from set/update Used to store visitor-level custom variable data.
This cookie is created when a developer uses the

_setCustomVar
method with
a visitor level custom variable. This cookie was
also used for the deprecated _setVar
method. The cookie is updated every time data is
sent to Google Analytics.

Third party cookies

These are used by third parties (such as Vimeo and CloudFlare) to enable their services to work. Some third parties use their cookies for advertising purposes. We have no control over these cookies and provide a link to the third party’s privacy policy, where you may have the option to opt-out of their data collection.

There are two third party cookies on this site:

Cookie Name Source Link to third party’s cookie information
vuid Vimeo Vimeo Cookie Policy
__cfduid CloudFlare What does the CloudFlare cfduid cookie do?