Privacy policy
What do you need to know?
This Privacy Policy sets out how we use and protect your personal information when you access and use the CENIC-NZ website. Read it carefully.
We are committed to:
- protecting the privacy of your personal information
- meeting our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 and any other applicable privacy legislation.
We may change this Privacy Policy at any time, by updating it within the website. This Privacy Policy was last updated in November 2024.
In this Privacy Policy:
“CENIC-NZ" means the CENIC-NZ website and the CENIC-NZ study.
“Personal information” has the meaning in the Privacy Act 2020, and generally means information about an identifiable individual.
“UniServices” means our wholly-owned subsidiary, Auckland UniServices Limited.
“University” or “we” means the University of Auckland.
We collect the following information for the following purposes:
We collect personal information about you that we reasonably need for our business functions and activities, which include:
‒ assessing the potential eligibility of potential research study participants
‒ providing the information of willing research participants who are potentially eligible to researchers conducting the relevant studies
‒ providing a service to researchers who are looking to identify potentially eligible participants for their research study. If you contact us to make a general enquiry about potentially being a participant in one of our research studies, we will collect the following personal information from you:
(a) your name; and
(b) your email address
We collect your answers to the survey questions. You cannot take part in this study if you do not consent to the collection of this information.
We collect information about how you use the website through the use of cookies using Google Analytics (e.g., visits) to enable us to improve the website. Further information on our use of cookies is set out below.
We also use the above information to operate, improve and optimise the website and/or as otherwise permitted at law.
Minimal data that you choose to provide within the website will also be stored locally on your browser for as long as you choose to use the website. This information is not collected by us, and will not be shared with third parties.
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your browser or device by a website or app.
Cookies cannot damage files, nor can they read information from the hard drive of a computer.
We use Google Analytics cookies to help remember users and monitor how they interact with the website. For example, we use cookies to determine website traffic and trends. Generally, that information is used to help us improve and personalise your online experiences.
How Google uses cookies, and information collected by Google Analytics is subject to the Google Privacy Policy.
You can disable the acceptance of cookies by adjusting the settings in your web browser, although this may restrict your ability to access some web pages.
We require any third party with whom we share information to provide the same level of protection of your data as set out in this Privacy Policy.
Your registration details and answers to surveys are collected and stored on a secure Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap), hosted by the University of Auckland and cloud-based storage facilities (such as SharePoint and Microsoft Applications) on computer servers operated by the University of Auckland. All information is held securely for at least 10 years. All storage will comply with local and/or international data security guidelines.
The following groups of people may have access to your identifiable information:
Approved research staff administering surveys and deidentifying the information.
The ethics committees or government agencies from New Zealand or overseas if the study is audited. Audits are done to make sure that participants are protected, the study is run properly, and the data collected is correct.
Rarely, it may be necessary for the study’s lead investigator, Professor Chris Bullen, to share your information with other people. For example, if there is a serious threat to public health or safety, or to the life or health of you or another person, or if the information is required in certain legal situations.
We share aggregated, de-identified information with our research partner Wake Forest University School of Medicine investigators for the purposes of conducting the study.
Your information is identified by a code. The research team will keep a list linking your code with your name, so that you can be identified by your coded data if needed. The following groups may have access to your coded information:
The research team at NIHI and Wake Forest University School of Medicine USA, for the purposes of this study.
Regulatory or other governmental agencies in NZ and USA De-identified results data will be sent overseas to the following group:
The research team at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, USA for the purposes of additional statistical analyses. Transfers of data to Wake Forest University School of Medicine will be under terms that require comparable protections for the data to those under New Zealand privacy laws. The results of the study may be published or presented, but not in a form that would reasonably be expected to identify you.
You can ask us what personal information we hold about you.
You may ask us to confirm what personal information we hold about you, and request access to and/or correction of that information. In some circumstances we may be unable to provide the access or make the correction, for example, where the information has been collected as part of the study information and is important that it reflects the information originally provided at that time. If you have any questions about the collection and use of information about you, you can contact us (CENIC-NZ-Surveys@auckland.ac.nz).
You may withdraw your consent for the collection and use of your information at any time, by contacting Professor Chris Bullen, in writing. At this time, your study participation will end, and the study team will stop collecting information from you. Information collected up until your withdrawal from the study will continue to be used and included in the study.
Māori data sovereignty is about protecting information or knowledge that is about (or comes from) Māori people.
We recognise the taonga of the data collected for this study. To help protect this taonga:
We have consulted with Dr George Laking (Te Whakatohea), and Associate Professor Vili Nosa (Niuean) from the University of Auckland, about the collection, ownership, and use of study data from Māori and Pacific participants.
Māori and Pacific organisations will be able to access de-identified study data, for uses that may benefit Māori or Pacific people.
Māori and Pacific health researchers will review the study results and the interpretation of them before the results are released to others in publications or presentations.
We will take reasonable steps to ensure the security and confidentiality of personal information that we collect. We work closely with UniServices to provide this website, including ensuring its proper operation.
We will not share your personal information with third party researchers unless we are satisfied that they are subject to legal or contractual obligations comparable to those under NZ privacy laws.
We retain your information for only as long as it is needed to meet the purposes above, or for as long as it is required by law.
This Privacy Policy is governed by New Zealand law.
