Privacy policy

The University of York Events Office (including York Festival of Ideas) is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. This policy explains how we use the information we collect about you. By submitting your information, you consent to the use of that information as set out in this policy.

Use and storage of your information

Our Responsibilities

  • We will only collect and retain relevant and essential data.
  • We will store your information safely and securely, protecting it from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure.
  • We will ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect personal data.
  • We will destroy your information securely.
  • We will work hard to keep your personal data up to date.
  • We will comply fully with our obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force in the UK in May 2018. 

Registering on our mailing list

We use Campaign Monitor (a third-party service) for our mailing list. Please review their Privacy Policy.

When registering on a mailing list, we ask you to provide your name and email address.

We use this information to tell you about upcoming events and to provide you with news and information about events organised by the University of York, as well as recommended events in the city of York.

We may also use your personal information to inform you by email of other events or activities run by the University of York or which we are facilitating or supporting or otherwise involved. We do not pass on your personal information to third-party companies.

You will be given an opportunity to unsubscribe in every marketing email we send.

Booking tickets on Eventbrite

The University of York Events Office does not have its own box office to sell tickets and uses Eventbrite (a third-party service) for ticketed events organised by us.

Please note that Eventbrite is a third-party service that is not owned or managed by the University of York. You should also review Eventbrite’s terms and conditions and privacy policy as we do not accept any responsibility or liability for the policies:

At the time of booking all users of Eventbrite must confirm that they accept the Eventbrite terms and conditions and Privacy Policy. Additionally, they must agree to their details being shared with the Event Organiser (University of York Events Office). Customers who do not agree to the terms are advised not to proceed with their booking. If you wish to attend one of our events but do not wish to use Eventbrite to book a place, please contact us.

When you book tickets on Eventbrite, we ask that you provide your name and email address for all bookings. All of our events are free of charge so we never take any payment information.

This information is used to issue the tickets for which you are applying. We also use the information to manage the event or activity for which you have ordered tickets, e.g. to produce an attendance list, to email you to give you important information about the events you have booked or to tell you about any changes.

When booking tickets for York Festival of Ideas we also ask that you provide the first half of your postcode and your age-range.  This data is then anonymised for market research purposes by the University of York Events Office.  

Attendance lists remain on Eventbrite and are not downloaded to our systems.

Your data is always held securely. Access to customer information is strictly controlled and the Eventbrite account can only be accessed by people who need to do their job – it is only made visible to members of staff who have a reason to work with it.

Audience surveys

We use Google Forms to collect audience data that is sometimes required by our funders.

Completing a survey is optional. Mailing list members are contacted by email and in the message we explain the reason for the survey.  Responses are collected anonymously and we do not track IP addresses.

Sharing of your information

We do not sell your information.

We do not share the information that is provided to us except:

With third party service providers, such as hosting providers or an email service provider, who provide services to us so that we are able to fulfil our obligations to you or, where we are able to send you marketing information, to do so.

If we have a legal obligation to disclose your information (for example, if a court orders us to).

How long do we keep your personal information?

We keep your personal information for as long as we need to for the purposes for which it was collected or (if longer) for any period for which we are required to keep personal information to comply with our legal and regulatory requirements or until you ask us to delete your personal data, in accordance with your rights below. We will regularly assess the personal data that we hold to determine its relevance and destroy your personal data if we no longer require it or no longer provide any services to you.

Your rights

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These include the right to:

  • find out how we process your personal data
  • request that your personal data is corrected if you believe it is incorrect or inaccurate
  • obtain restriction on our, or object to, processing of your personal data
  • ask us not to process your personal data for our own marketing purposes
  • withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal data
  • obtain a copy of your personal information which we hold about you. We will take steps to verify your identity before responding to your request and will respond as soon as possible and in any event within a month.

Contact us

If you would like to exercise any of your rights outlined in this policy or have any questions about the way in which the University of York Events Office handles your personal data, please contact Sue Bennett, who is responsible for data protection as below:

Events Office, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD

Tel: 01904 324778

Email: open-lectures@york.ac.uk