This Privacy Notice explains how we will collect, use and protect your personal data.
The Notice applies to young people participating in widening access projects, activities and events as part of Access to Medicine (ATM) and their parents/guardians.
The University will process your personal data in accordance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
We collect personal information from you as part of the application process, such as (but not limited to): your contact details; identified gender; whether you attend a non-selective state school/college; predicted educational attainment; whether you are from a low-income household i.e. in receipt of a means tested benefit or eligible for the 16-19 Bursary and whether you meet other applicable widening participation criteria, as outlined on the LU website: Access to Medicine – Am I eligible?
We may also hold special category data such as your race or ethnic origin, religious beliefs and physical or mental health.
Please note
Due to the competitive nature of the Access to Medicine programme i.e. the limited number of places available, we also require a short personal statement about your interest in Medicine. This information will be used to determine your eligibility for Access to Medicine, in accordance with Lancaster Medical School priorities.
When taking part in Access to Medicine, we collect further information about you including:
If you successfully complete the Access to Medicine programme, you may be eligible for a guaranteed interview, subject to:
More information about Lancaster University Medical School courses and entry requirements can be found here: Medicine - Lancaster University.
There are several collection points to obtain your information:
We will only use your personal data where legally permitted and where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, and where your interests and rights do not override those interests, or where we need to comply with legal or regulatory obligations. The lawful basis for collecting your personal data is: Article 6(f) of the GDPR – Legitimate Interest.
We use your personal data to process your application and inform the decision-making process for places on the programme i.e. to confirm your eligibility to take part in Access to Medicine.
Your information will also be used for the administration of your place on Access to Medicine, so that we are able to provide you with a range of events, relevant information, and support options. We will also use your information to monitor and evaluate Access to Medicine and associated activities.
We will share your information with university staff when there is a justified operational need to do so. This information will be shared so that we can provide you with appropriate support to participate in the Access to Medicine programme.
As part of Access to Medicine, you will be offered the option of undertaking a work experience placement via University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust, East Lancashire Hospitals Trust or Lancaster Medical Practice (subject to availability). You are required to complete an external application hosted by the Provider. However, application information will be shared with the Access to Medicine Project Lead to facilitate support arrangements, including travel and accommodation (where necessary).
Lancaster University uses the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT). HEAT is used by universities to track what happens to the young people who take part in their widening participation activities in the future. Specifically, if they go to university and if they do, which university they choose. To do this, we will share five pieces of information about you (first name, surname, date of birth, home postcode and school), and we will add the applicable widening participation characteristics to your student profile within HEAT.
Your information will be used for tracking purposes and will also be used to monitor your progress (including from school to university and to other destinations such as postgraduate study and employment destinations). The information will be used in several reports, including both Lancaster University reports and HEAT reports at a national level. However, the information will be anonymised, and individuals will not be identifiable in these reports.
In addition, information will be shared with key personnel and the supplier which maintains the HEAT database. HEAT may share your data with official custodians of education data including the Higher Education Statistics Agency, UCAS, the Department for Education, the Office for Students, the National Pupil Database and other agencies for research purposes only, (as agreed by HEAT governance and steering groups). HEAT will only share your data if they are required by law or directed by a court or similar body to do so.
Use of HEAT will help us to evaluate the success of Access to Medicine and make a difference to somebody else’s future. This information will help us, and other universities find out if widening access initiatives help more people go to university.
For more information about HEAT, we recommend that you read the information on their website: HEAT Privacy Notice and watch the HEAT Data Privacy Video.
If you would like to object to your data being entered into HEAT, please email us: wp@lancaster.ac.uk.
Online events are delivered via Microsoft Teams for live, real-time engagement and collaboration. Microsoft Teams will also be used in conjunction with the University website, and some activities will also make use of Lancaster’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), OpenLearning.
Microsoft Teams is a platform designed for online collaboration. We use this platform for online, live stream events and sessions using audio and video feeds. When participating in online events, students will be invited to join the MS system and relevant event ‘Team’ as an external guest user. To complete this process, we will we use the email address provided at the time of application.
Participant email addresses and names will be visible to other attendees and Lancaster University staff whilst using Microsoft Teams, it is not possible to remove this information. By agreeing to use Microsoft Teams, you are agreeing for this information to be visible to others whilst taking part in online events.
All live events facilitated through Microsoft Teams will be recorded by the event organisers for the sole purpose of safeguarding, child protection and behaviour monitoring. These recordings will be stored securely within the system and will only be accessible to nominated staff members for a specified period, (three years). Sessions that involve you using video or audio functions to interact will not be shared unless your explicit consent is obtained.
Sometimes we may need to share your personal data with other organisations based within or outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or UK.
When it is necessary to share your data with organisations outside of the EEA, we will ensure that there are appropriate safeguards in place, thereby offering a comparable level of data protection to that within the EEA.
As part of the evaluation process to improve our activities and monitor their impact, we would like to contact you in the future to discuss your experiences, and the impact that this has had on your application, decision-making and progression to university. Towards the end of the programme, we will contact you to request your consent to do this and then contact you by email in the future.
If you wish to opt out (after initially giving your consent) or have any questions, please email: wp@lancaster.ac.uk.
The University has robust Information Security Policies in place to protect your information. All staff at the University have a responsibility to make sure that your data is handled securely.
For further information please refer to the University’s Information Security Policy and Processes.
Your record of participation in Access to Medicine and your associated information will be retained for a maximum of 10 years, and only as long as is necessary.
For further information please refer to the University’s Retention Schedule.
If you are not accepted on the programme or decide not to complete Access to Medicine, we will delete all identifiable information that we hold about you by the end of the academic year. We will only retain a record of the number of young people that applied or did not complete the programme from each school/college, according to year group.
You have the following rights regarding your personal data:
The University has further information on Data Subject Rights.
If you wish to exercise your rights, you are advised to read this information as there are some exceptions to using your rights. For example, it is a statutory duty for the University to send some of your information to HESA each year. In this case, you could not apply to restrict this use of your information.
Any requests to use your rights over your personal data should be made to the University’s designated Data Protection Officer.
You are required to read this Privacy Notice when it is presented to you during your application or confirmation to join the programme. It is important that you do this, so you understand how we use your personal information and your rights.
Please assist the University in keeping your student record up to date e.g. phone number/email address. This can be done by contacting: wp@lancaster.ac.uk.
Lancaster University’s designated Data Protection Officer is:
Mike Abbotts, Information Governance Manager
Email: information-governance@lancaster.ac.uk
Phone: 01524 510841
Contact Mike if you have any concerns or complaints about this Notice or about the way your personal data is being used.
Lancaster University is the Data Controller for the personal data that it holds about you. The University’s contact details are:
Lancaster University,
Bailrigg,
Lancaster
LA1 4YW
United Kingdom
If you are not happy with the way the University has handled your concern or complaint, then you may submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
This Notice has been developed to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). This Notice is regularly reviewed and sometimes updated. It is important that you check for updates to this Notice. If we make significant changes, we will contact you to inform you of this. This notice was most recently updated in November 2025.
