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Privacy Policy

FROM OUTDOORS TO LABOUR MARKET (FOLM)

Participant Information & Privacy Notice.

You are being invited to take part in the project 'From Outdoors to Labour Market (FOLM)'.

Before you decide to take part it is important you understand why the project is being conducted, and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully.

 

What is the purpose of this project?

The purpose of the FOLM project is to reduce youth unemployment in the three European regions.

  • Warmia-Masuria (Poland).
  • Cantabria (Spain).
  • Mid West Region (Ireland).

This is to be achieved by implementing and adapting the Edinburgh Model of personal and social growth through outdoor learning, developed jointly by the two Expertise Partners in the FOLM project, Venture Trust (Scotland) and The University of Edinburgh (Scotland).

 

Why am I invited to participate?

If you filfil the following criteria, then you are eligble to apply for participation in the FOLM programme, and we cordially invite you to do so.

Eligibility criteria:

  • You are 18 to 29 years old (at time of application).
  • You are currently not in education, employment or training (mini part-time or volunteer work not included).

Exclusion criteria:

  • Current drug or alcohol addiction.
  • General level of fitness and health too poor to safely participate in the outdoor and other sessions. (Please contact us and discuss in case of doubt).

Please note that there is no legal right to participate in the programme, and FOLM supervisors can make an informed decision to reject or exclude someone from the programme. For example, non attendance, inappropriate behaviour or other activities that are against the programme purposes may result in exclusion from the FOLM programme.

 

Do I have to take part?

No – it is entirely up to you. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw from the project at any time and without giving a reason. Deciding not to take part or withdrawing from the study will not affect your legal rights.

 

What happens if I decide to take part?

If you decide to take part, then please complete and submit the Registration Form. A staff member of the FOLM Training Partner in your region will contact you to let you know if/when you are accepted for participation. They will also give you further information on next steps and dates.

If you have any immediate questions, please contact the supervisor of the FOLM Training Partner in your region:

  • Warmia-Masuria (Poland): Dorota Wardyn, Foodbank, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
  • Cantabria (Spain): María del Carmen López Crux, Grupo Femxa, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
  • Mid-West (Ireland): Marie Taylor, Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

The FOLM project aims to promote personal and social competence through outdoor learning and personal coaching and mentoring. You are likely to benefit from participating in the FOLM programme through increased awareness of and execution of transferrable personal and social skills, a positive self-concept, and a growing sense of agency.

In addition, specific employment-related training and skills are delivered as part of the programme in order to support participants to (re)engage in education, employment and/or training. An expected and intended benefit for participants is therefore employment or engagement in formal education by the end of the project.

Expected benefits are an increase in life and professional skills, and to become more active citizens in their regions, and healthy, prosperous individuals.

 

Are there any risks associated with taking part?

Some activities take place outdoors and in remote wilderness locations, which brings about certain physical and emotional risks. The FOLM Training Partner in your region (LIT, Foodbank, Femxa) have taken appropriate measures and apply professional standards to gauge and mitigate risks, yet can take no responsibility for damage to proterty or health – including death – resulting from participation in the FOLM programme.

There is no risk associated with the data collection and research in the FOLM project.

 

What if I want to withdraw from the project?

Agreeing to participate in this project does not oblige you to remain in the project nor have any further obligation to this project. If at any stage, you no longer wish to participate, merely inform a staff member of your FOLM Training Partner (i.e. LIT/Foodbank/Femxa) of your decision.

You should note that your data may be used in the production of formal research outputs (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, theses and reports) prior to your withdrawal, and so you are advised to contact a member of FOLM staff at the earliest opportunity should you wish to withdraw from the project. On specific request we will do our best to destroy all your identifiable answers. We might need to keep the data collected prior to your withdrawal, and to maintain our records of your consenting participation.

The evaluative research and quality assurance of the FOLM project are required parts of the funding agreement (i.e. work package 3 and 9, respectively), and there is a limited number of places for participants. Therefore, individuals applying for and participating in the FOLM programme (e.g. outdoor and coaching sessions) are expected to consent to their personal and anonymised data to be used for the research and quality assurance as laid out in the funding agreement and this Participant Information and Privacy Notice. Refusing or withdrawing your consent for your data being used for these purposes may result in exclusion from the FOLM project. However, taking part in the interviews is optional, and you may opt out of these without consequence.

 

 

Data protection and confidentiality

What data will be collected of/on me?

Only such data will be collected that enable FOLM staff to conduct the tasks laid out in the funding agreement with the EEA & Norway Grant for Youth Employment. This is in particular the trainings, workshops, lectures and learning processes, and evaluative research of the FOLM project.

Rigorous critical discussion within the FOLM consortium has taken place to keep the amount and type of collected data to a justified minimum. Among these are:

  • Demographic data (used for statistical evaluation of the programme, and to optimise the delivery of the programme to meet participants' needs).
  • Personal data (anonymised. Personal identifiers are kept separated from other data wherever possible).
  • Structured and unstructured notes taken by Trainers, Coaches and Mentors during the programme (used to deliver the programme to each individual participant; evidence of interventions and participants' progress; enabling a smooth handover of information from one phase to the next).
  • Written and spoken statements (e.g. in interviews – with separate explicit consent only).
  • Questionnaires and surveys implemented for evaluative research and quality assurance.
  • Photographs and video clips (used for (a) implementation of the FOLM programme, (b) your personal evidence of your journey; and to a degree for (c) documentation, dissemination, and promotion of the FOLM project.

 

Legal basis / Lawfulness.

In line with the GDPR and the UK Data Protection Act, FOLM collect and process the described types of data of you:

  • With your consent.
  • So that we can communicate with you and deliver the FOLM programme to you.
  • In the legitimate interest of conducting promotion, dissemination, quality assurance and research activities in line with the EEA & Norway Grant funding agreement.

A Data Protection Impact Assessment is currently being carried out through the University of Edinburgh.

 

What will happen with the data collected in the FOLM project?

All personal data will be pseudonymised and where possible anonymised according to GDPR and the UoE ethic guidelines. Your data will be referred to by a unique participation number, and all care is taken to keep personal identifiers such as name or email address separate. The raw data will only be accessible to a small selection of FOLM staff who have undergone a critical nomination process and have signed a Data Protection Self Declaration assuring their responsible handling of your data.

The FOLM Consortium take a proactive approach to privacy. We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes.

The FOLM Consortium organisations undertake to treat your personal data absolutely confidential, making use of them exclusively for the statutory purposes of non-commercial activity within the the FOLM project in accordance with the funding agreement. This is in particular to design, conduct, and evaluate the trainings, workshops, lectures and learning processes, and evaluative research of all FOLM phases.

The Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), Ireland is tasked with the quality assurance of the FOLM project, and The University of Edinburgh (UoE), Scotland is tasked with the qualitative and quantitative research of the FOLM project.

The anonymised results of their research will be summarised in project reports, journal articles, presentations, and other academic and public engagement output. Quotes or key findings will always be made anonymous in any formal outputs unless we have your prior and explicit written permission to attribute them to you by name.

 

How will my data be stored and processed?

The official FOLM consortium organisations will store, process and use your personal data solely for the statutory purposes of non-commercial activity within the realisation of the FOLM project, and in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The organisations forming the FOLM consortium implement especially developed action policies to prevent any unauthorized or inappropriate access to that information.

All electronic raw data will be stored on the password-protected and access-restricted FOLM platform.

Hard copies (e.g. signed documents, paper surveys) will be stored securely by the supervisor or your regional FOLM Training Partner (i.e. LIT, Foodbank, Femxa).

The University of Edinburgh research staff will acccess the collected data for qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Files created in the analysis process will be stored password-protected on encrypted university-managed laptops and/or the University data drive. Data management procedures are in place to ensure that UoE staff should not receive access to participants' real names.

 

Data retention.

The FOLM consortium will retain personal raw data (e.g. real names, interview recordings) only for as long as necessary, i.e. until the end of the FOLM project funding period March 2022.

Appropriately anonymised and processed data sets will be stored beyond the funding period of the FOLM project on Data Share – or a similar GDPR-compliant data depository – for future ethically approved research.

 

Data sharing

Internal and external data sharing

Internal data sharing (i.e. within one FOLM partner organisation) and external data sharing (i.e. between FOLM Partner organisations) of participants' personal information is kept to a minimum and continuously scrutinised for necessity and proportionality. It is conducted purely to fulfil the non commercial activities laid out in the FOLM project funding agreement.

Third party sharing

The FOLM Partner organisations use internal and external partners to communicate and promote their activities on FOLM's behalf. Therefore, your personal information/image may be shared with partner agencies involved in the promotion of outdoor learning and employability in particular. Your image may also be used on third party platforms on which FOLM has a presence. This currently includes Facebook. Where we use your image online this will inevitably be subject to international data transfer, and we may also share your image information with agencies (e.g. Facebook) that operate outside Europe. Where you provide information that enables you to be identified we will seek your consent to publish this identifying personal data

A professional transcription service (such as 1st Class Secretarial Services) is likely to be used to help with the transcriptions of the interview recordings. A service provider will only be contracted with approval of the UoE's Research and Knowledge Excange office and/or the Research Data Support Officer to make sure data is handled confidentially and GDPR-compliant.

Requests from the Police or law enforcement officials: The FOLM Consortium is not legally obliged to provide information to the police, unless presented with a court order. However, the FOLM partner organisations will usually choose to release information where the police, or other law enforcement agencies, can demonstrate to our satisfaction that non-release would be likely to prejudice the prevention/detection of crime or apprehension/prosecution of offenders.

 

Data controller

For data collected on the FOLM platform under this privacy notice, Grupo Femxa is the Data Controller (as that term is defined in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

For data collected outside the FOLM platform for and through research activities under Work Package 3 of the FOLM funding agreement, the University of Edinburgh is the Data Controller, registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, Registration Number Z6426984.

 

Who can I contact with questions and complaints?

If you have any questions or concerns about participating in the FOLM project, please contact the supervisor of the Training Partner in your region:

  • Warmia-Masuria (Poland): Dorota Czarzasta-Wardyn, Food Bank, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
  • Cantabria (Spain): María del Carmen López Crux, Grupo Femxa, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
  • Mid-West (Ireland): Marie Taylor, Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you have any questions or concerns about the UoE's research, please contact Jule Hildmann (PhD), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. from the Outdoor Environmental Education Unit of The University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

For general information about how The University of Edinburgh staff use and safeguard your data go to: https//www.ed.ac.uk/records-management/privacy-notice-research.

You can contact the UoE's Data Protection Officer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The UoE's data protection policy is openly accessible on www.ed.ac.uk.

If you wish to make a formal complaint about the research, please contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In your communication, please provide the project title and detail the nature of your complaint.

 

Accessibility

You can get this document on tape, in Braille, large print and various computer formats if you ask us. please contact Jule Hildmann, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Updates of this document

In case of changes to the FOLM project that impact on processes laid out in this Participant Infromation and Privacy Notice, then this document will be updated and all current FOLM participants notified.

 

Thank you very much for your time and consideration!