Privacy policy

Overview

We take our obligations under privacy and data protection law very seriously. This Privacy Policy sets out the basis on which we collect and use Personal Information about you through your use of our websites and online portals, or through your participation or involvement in the Academy of Medical Sciences' activities.

This notice applies to the Academy of Medical Sciences ('the Academy'). We are located at 41 Portland Place, London, W1B 1QH.

The Academy is registered as a data controller with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. This is because we dictate the purpose for which your Personal Information is used and how we use your Personal Information. As such, we are responsible for ensuring compliance with data protection law when we process your Personal Information.

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time in response to guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office or other relevant bodies, or as a result of changes in the way we use your Personal Information. Where appropriate, we will communicate any future changes to this Policy by e-mail, letter, pop-up on the Academy website or other methods of communication as the Academy may consider appropriate. This Privacy Policy was last updated in June 2026.

You have the right to object to our use of your Personal Information at any time in certain circumstances. For further information on all of your rights, please see the Your rights in relation to your Personal Information section below. Details of who to contact if you want to exercise these rights can be found in the Contact Information section below.

Any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the way in which the Academy uses Personal Information should be sent to our Data Representative by email to [email protected] or by telephoning +44 (0)020 3141 3200 or by writing to The Data Representative, The Academy of Medical Sciences, 41 Portland Place, London, W1B 1QH. 

Key terms

AMS, we, us, our and the Academy: Academy of Medical Sciences 

Academy Activities: The activities that we are involved in to further our aims and objectives, including:

• managing meetings, workshops, events;
• operating our grants, schemes or other programmes;
• running meetings, projects or programmes;
• identifying and maximising funding opportunities; and
• issuing reports, statements, newsletters and other publications. 

Data Representative: Toby Jenkins, Senior Business Information Manager

Personal Information: Any information about a living person by which that person can be identified. Some information may identify the individual directly, e.g. name or email address, or indirectly, e.g. job title and employer. 

Special Categories of Personal Information: Information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, genetic or biometric data, data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation. 

Website: acmedsci.ac.uk

You or your: Anyone using our Websites and online portals or participating or being involved in the Academy Activities. This may include Fellows, candidates, people who attend or participate in our events, meetings or projects, suppliers or contractors, donors and other business contacts (i.e. journalists, press officers at other organisations, industry experts etc) but this excludes those covered by the Grants Privacy Policy or Programmes Privacy Policy available on the Website. 

What Personal Information do we collect and use?

Fellows/Honorary Fellows/Candidates for Fellowship

We require certain information to support an individual’s Fellowship of the Academy. If this information is not provided, an individual may fail to exercise his/her rights, or discharge his/her responsibilities as a Fellow. The Personal Information we collect includes name, address, telephone number and electronic contact details.

We also collect the following Personal Information about you:

• Bank/building society details.
• Date of birth (for determining appropriate subscription level) and age.
• Gender and gender identity.
• Nationality.
• Details of occupation, employment history, education, training, qualifications, publications, Charity Trusteeships, Company Directorships and other professional experience.
• Other socio-economic variables such as household income and/or occupations, education attainment and type of school attended.
• Details about caring responsibilities.
• Details of research expertise, areas of professional interest, industry/funder/institutional links.
• Civil honours and awards.
• Details of your participation in Academy Activities, e.g. service on committees, Council, or as a mentor.
• Professional digital presence, e.g. personal or institutional website and social media account details.
• Information provided to us as part of Academy Activities, e.g. expert views and written contributions, survey responses, panel notes.
• Any charitable donations to the Academy.
• Correspondence.
• Photos.
• Peer review reports and panel discussion notes in relation to nominations to Fellowship or grant/programme applications.
• Names of the candidates you nominate for election to the Fellowship. 

We may receive your name, details of your expertise, professional interests, qualifications and reasons why you should be nominated as a candidate for fellowship from third parties (e.g. other fellows).

We may also collect certain Special Categories of Personal Information about you, including religion, racial or ethnic origin, disability (including details of relevant conditions), sexual orientation and other protected characteristics for inclusion, equality and diversity purposes only as more particularly described below in the section Our commitment to equal opportunities.

Suppliers and contractors who provide services to the Academy

• Name, address, telephone number, electronic contact details.
• Bank/building society details.
• Information related to Academy Activities and operations.
• Correspondence.

Further details on how we process Personal Information can be found in the contract or agreement related to the service provided.

Donors

• Name, address, telephone number, electronic contact details.
• Bank/building society details.
• Donation history.
• Correspondence.
• Occupation, interests and professional information. Details of your participation in Academy Activities. 

Public/patient representatives

• Name, address, telephone number, electronic contact details.
• Age
• Gender and gender identity.
• Caring responsibilities.
• Socioeconomic background household income and/or occupations, education attainment and type of school attended.
• Nationality.

In some instances, we may also collect certain Special Categories of Personal Information about you e.g. we may seek information on religion, racial or ethnic origin, health condition, disability (including details of relevant conditions), sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics for inclusion, equality and diversity purposes only as more particularly described below in the section Our commitment to equal opportunities. 

Others – contacts in other organisations; participants in meetings, projects, programmes or events; journalists; industry experts 

• Name, address, telephone number, digital contact details.
• Age.
• Gender and gender identity.
• Nationality.
• Socio-economic variables: household income and/or occupations, education attainment and type of school attended.
• Correspondence.
• Details about caring responsibilities.
• Occupation, interests and professional information.
• Details of your participation in Academy Activities.

In some instances, we may also collect certain Special Categories of Personal Information about you e.g. for meeting attendees, we may seek information on religion, racial or ethnic origin, disability (including details of relevant conditions), sexual orientation, and other protected characteristics for inclusion, equality and diversity purposes only as more particularly described below in the section Our commitment to equal opportunities. 

We may be required to obtain your Personal Information to comply with our legal requirements, or to enable us to involve you in the Academy Activities you have requested. If you do not provide the relevant Personal Information to us, we may not be able to involve you in the Academy Activities.

In the course of your relationship with us you may provide us with Personal Information relating to third parties. This may include details of your next of kin/emergency contact for use if there is an emergency situation in relation to your health or details of a candidate for fellowship whom you wish to nominate.

We will use this Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you are providing Personal Information to us relating to a third party, you confirm that you have the consent of the third party or are otherwise permitted to share such Personal Information with us and that you have made the information in this Privacy Policy available to the third party.

Our Websites and digital portals are not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children via them. 

Why do we collect Personal Information?

Under data protection law, we can only use Personal Information if we have a legal basis for doing so. We will use Personal Information for one or more of the following legal bases:

• to comply with legal and regulatory obligations;
• for our legitimate interests (see below) or those of a third party;
• for the performance of a contract with you; or
• with consent from the relevant individual.

A legitimate interest is when we have an organisational reason to use Personal Information, so long as this is not overridden by an individual’s rights and interests. We make sure we consider and balance the potential impact on individuals (both positive and negative) before we process Personal Information for our legitimate interests. When the Academy relies on its legitimate interests it means:

the pursuit by the Academy of its aims and objectives, or those of a third party;

compliance with applicable legal and regulatory obligations and any codes of conduct;

improvement and development of the operation of the Academy and its provision of awards/grants or programmes, or those of a third party; or

the protection of the Academy's aims, objectives and business and those involved with it (such as its Fellows or employees or other stakeholders), or those of a third party.  

What we use your Personal Information for and our legal basis for doing so

Purpose

To process your request to be involved in the Academy Activities: Legitimate interests.

To register your attendance at an Academy meeting or event: Legitimate interests.

To communicate with you and other individuals: Legitimate interests and Contract with you.

To provide you with information about the Academy Activities, or relevant activities of a third party, which we think will be of interest to you: Legitimate interests and Consent.

To administer your payments to us or any payments which we make to you (for example donations or subscription fees): Contract with you.

To carry out and deal with the administration of events or schemes which are organised by us and at which you are an attendee, participant or speaker. Legitimate interests and Contract with you.

To assess and improve the quality of the Academy Activities: Legitimate interests.

To consult with you as part of the Academy Activities: Legitimate interests and Contract with you.

To comply with applicable legal and regulatory obligations and any codes of conduct: Legal and regulatory obligation.

To manage your involvement in the Academy Activities or any supply of goods/services to ensure your involvement/supply meets the needs of our organisation: Legitimate interests 

To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us or in preparation of entering into a contract with you: Contract with you.

To provide you with details of the Academy Activities and liaise with you in connection with possible promotional pieces (reports, articles, etc.) in relation to those Academy Activities: Legitimate interests and Consent.

To carry out governance activities (e.g. Council elections): Legitimate interests and Legal and regulatory obligation.

To monitor the equality, diversity and inclusion of participation in Academy Activities as more particularly described below in the section titled 'Our Commitment to equal opportunities': Legitimate interests, Contract with you and Consent.

To liaise with you with respect to your involvement in Academy Activities to assess the impact of Academy Activities in individuals: Legitimate interests and Consent.

Special Categories of Personal Information 

When we process Special Categories of Personal Information we will rely on either of the following legal bases:

• your explicit consent; or
• one or more of the other legal bases set out in the table above and the use is:
  • necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity (for example, when a court issues a court order requiring the processing of your sensitive Personal Information); or
  • in your vital interests.

Where we use Special Categories of Personal Information for equal opportunities monitoring (for further information see below), we will do so in reliance on the basis that it is in the substantial public interest to have equality of opportunity or treatment (the Equal Opportunities Ground) or, where we cannot rely on the Equal Opportunities Ground, based on your explicit consent. 

As a general comment, we will only rely on explicit consent where your Special Categories of Personal Information are used in connection with equal opportunities purposes and the processing is carried out for the purposes of measures or decisions with respect to you. We will provide you with more information about how your Special Categories of Personal Information will be used when we seek your explicit consent. 

Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

To help us meet our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion opportunities, we may collect certain Personal Information and Special Categories of Personal Information. We do not collect this information about all individuals – this depends on our relationship with you. The section 'What Personal Information do we collect and use' sets out the relevant information that we collect for equal opportunities purposes. This information is only available to us if you choose to supply it, providing it to us is not compulsory and all requests have a ‘prefer not to say’ option.

Where we collect Special Categories Personal Information for equal opportunities monitoring (such as your ethnic origin or information regarding a disability you may have), we will process this in accordance with the Special Categories of Personal Information section immediately above.

The purposes for which we may use this information (depending on our relationship with you and any preferences you have expressed) are as follows:

• consideration when ranking applications/candidates to ensure an equitable assessment (e.g. for candidates for fellowship);
• ensuring consistency of approach and identifying bias in systems;
• offering targeted interventions to individuals based on protected characteristics (including making reasonable adjustments);
• offering engagement, networking and platforming opportunities to individuals with protected characteristics (e.g. the Academy will actively reach out to stakeholders with those protected characteristics to engage them with our activities or see how we could adjust them to increase their engagement.);
• monitoring and identifying candidates for nominations for third party awards or event participation (e.g. to women to join the panel of an event);
• monitoring and evaluation of experience/service received by people with protected characteristics; and
• improve our governance processes (e.g. appointments to Council and Fellowship).

In addition to the above, we report equal opportunities information annually on our website on an aggregated and anonymised basis. 

How Personal Information is collected

The vast majority of Personal Information we collect comes directly from you, e.g. through correspondence, website or portal registrations or updates, grant applications, meeting registrations or Fellowship nominations.

Third parties may pass Personal Information to us in the course of our organisational activities, e.g. suggesting particular experts, peer reviewers, workshop participants or third parties who support us with events such as photographers providing event photographs. This will include, where relevant, name, job title, organisation and details of research expertise or areas of professional interest. We collect Personal Information relating to proposed fellowship candidates from existing fellows who wish to nominate or recommend a candidate for fellowship. We only collect limited Personal Information relating to such proposed fellowship candidates, including their name and details of their professional history, which indicates why they would be a suitable candidate for fellowship.

We may also collect Personal Information from publicly accessible sources, e.g. university or institutional websites, social media sites, or Companies House. This may include details of the work you have undertaken or positions you have held, research expertise and areas of professional interests.

We do not use your Personal Information for any automated decision making.

Who we disclose Personal Information to

We may share your Personal Information with:

• Service providers, including IT support, a mailing house, the provider of our grant management system, survey and electronic newsletter providers, website developers, evaluators and other contractors;
• Our bank and auditors;
• Our professional advisers, including accountants and lawyers;
• Fellows and external peer reviewers (if you are applying to a scheme or programme) i.e. through our internal online election system eLect 2, access to which is strictly limited to Fellows or peer reviewers and password protected;
• Scheme/project partners (e.g. research funders, institutions or other entities who collaborate with us on grant schemes, projects and programmes). We will advise you when your participation in an  activity will require sharing your Personal Information with a partner. Current partners include: Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, National Institute of Health Research, UK Research & Innovation, British Heart Foundation, The Health Foundation, Diabetes UK, and Arthritis Research UK; and Other national academies, including The Royal Society, the British Academy and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

These third parties have access to Personal Information to carry out the activities we instruct them to do.

We may also disclose your Personal Information to other third parties, for example:

• if we or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party (or are subject to a reorganisation within our group), Personal Information held by us will be one of the transferred assets;
• to external agencies and organisations (including the police, the relevant local authority and other law enforcement agencies) including for the purpose of complying with applicable legal and regulatory obligations;
• if we are under a duty to disclose or share your Personal Information in order to comply with any legal obligation, or we are involved in any litigation with you; and
• in other situations where we have the consent of the individual to do so (if this is required).

Where Personal Information is shared with a third party it will be limited to that which is required for the particular purpose or Academy Activity and we will take steps to protect it. Fellows’ name, job title and institution/employer, area of expertise and citation on election (but not contact details) are publicly available through the Fellows’ Directory on the Website. Fellows’ contact details are made available to other Fellows through the restricted Fellows area of the Website, unless a Fellow asks us not to. We may share information that is already in the public domain, such as name, job title, organisation/institution and area of research expertise/interest – about individual or groups of Fellows with trusted third parties, e.g. when asked to suggest particular experts.

We will always treat your Personal Information with the utmost respect and we will never sell or share it with other organisations to allow them to send you marketing (including fundraising). 

Website and social media

We use several analytical tools, including Google Analytics, to collect statistical information about the visitors to our Website and followers of our social media accounts. This information includes pages visited, content searched and post interactions. We use this information to maintain and improve our Website and social media communications. Web analytic data does not reveal an individual’s identity, and social media analytics only show information from accounts with public settings. Please read our cookie policy for more information about how we use cookies and similar technologies (such as email tracking pixels which may be used to analyse email recipients' behaviour, e.g. whether they open an email, how long they spend reading an email and whether they click on any links set out in that email). 

Where your Personal Information is held

Personal Information may be held at our offices or those of third parties (see section on third parties). We also hold your Personal Information in secure data centres in the UK with all reasonable technological and operational measures put in place to safeguard it from unauthorised access. For more information on how we keep your Personal Information secure, please see the How we protect your Personal Information section below. 

Transferring your Personal Information out of the UK 

It may be necessary to transfer your Personal Information outside of the United Kingdom for example due to the international nature of the work that we do. This may include:

• our service providers located outside the UK;
• if a Fellow or peer reviewer accesses Personal Information remotely through one of our secure systems whilst travelling or residing outside the UK; or
• if we collaborate with an institutional partner in a country outside the UK on a programme, project, conference or event. This will be made clear to any participants in the programme, project, conference or event.

These transfers are subject to special rules under data protection law. We make sure that transfers are limited to the minimum amount of information possible. To obtain further information about where your Personal Information may be transferred to, please contact us using the details in the Contact information section below.

When we transfer your Personal Information outside the UK, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such information will be adequately protected. We will do this by any of the following means:

• transferring your Personal Information to a country or territory which the UK government has approved as providing adequate protection to Personal Information (this approval is referred to as 'Adequacy Regulations'). Adequacy Regulations will apply to any transfer of Personal Information outside of the UK to the EU;
• using standard data protection clauses; or using the tools issued by the UK Information Commissioner which can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

This approach is compliant with applicable data protection law (being Articles 45 and

46.2 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation). For further information about these transfers and the safeguards in place (including to obtain a copy of any documents in place), please contact us using the details in the Contact Information section below.

How long your Personal Information will be kept 

We will only retain your Personal Information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it, including satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for Personal Information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the Personal Information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of it and the purposes for which we process your Personal Information.

Certain Personal Information on Fellows is retained indefinitely as part of our commitment to retaining a true and accurate historical record of the activities and business of the Academy of Medical Sciences as a national institution. For example, the fact that you were a Fellow and details of the Academy Activities you were involved in as a Fellow will be retained, but bank account/building society details will only be held for a maximum of two years after you cease being a Fellow. It is in the public interest to retain these archiving records.

Personal Information on all other individuals (who are not Fellows), including suppliers, contractors, and participants in events, programmes or projects is retained for up to two years following completion of the contract, event, programme or project.

This may be longer if there is a stated business need, legal or statutory requirement, or a perceived historical value.

We regularly review our databases and when it is no longer necessary to retain your Personal Information, we will delete or anonymise it. In some circumstances we may anonymise your Personal Information (so it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes without further notice to you. 

How we protect your Personal Information

It is our policy to ensure that all Personal Information held by us is handled correctly and appropriately according to the nature of the information, the risk associated with mishandling that information, including the damage that could be caused to an individual as a result of loss, corruption and/or accidental disclosure of any such information, and in accordance with any applicable legal requirements.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will seek to protect Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of Personal Information transmitted online and any transmission is at the individual's own risk.

We will put in place appropriate security measures to seek to keep Personal Information secure. The Academy undertakes regular security and risk reviews and monitors all of the controls that it has in place to ensure the security, accuracy and integrity of the Personal Information it holds.

Individuals should notify (by email, telephone or in writing using the contact details below) the Academy if any Personal Information is incorrect or out of date.

If we have given you a username and password which allows you to access certain parts of our system, e.g. our Fellowship election software, you are responsible for keeping it confidential. 

Your rights in relation to your Personal Information

You have certain rights in relation to your Personal Information. Some of these rights only apply in certain circumstances, and may be subject to exemptions. You can see below a summary of your rights, which can be exercised by contacting [email protected].

Right of access to your Personal Information

You have the right to receive a copy of your Personal Information that we hold about you, subject to certain exemptions.

We may require further information in order to respond to your request (for instance, evidence of your identity and information to enable us to locate the specific Personal Information you require).

Right to rectify your Personal Information

You have the right to ask us to correct your Personal Information that we hold where it is incorrect or incomplete.

Right to erasure of your Personal Information

You have the right to ask that your Personal Information be deleted in certain circumstances. For example:

• where your Personal Information is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise used;
• if you withdraw your consent and there is no other legal ground for which we rely on for the continued use of your Personal Information;
• if you object to the use of your Personal Information (as set out below);
• if we have used your Personal Information unlawfully; or
• if your Personal Information needs to be erased to comply with a legal obligation.

Right to restrict the use of your Personal Information

You have the right to suspend our use of your Personal Information in certain circumstances. For example:

• where you think your Personal Information is inaccurate but only for so long as is required for us to verify the accuracy of your Personal Information;
• the use of your Personal Information is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your Personal Information and request that it is suspended instead;
• we no longer need your Personal Information , but your Personal Information is required by you for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or
• you have objected to the use of your Personal Information and we are verifying whether our grounds for the use of your Personal Information override your objection.

Right to data portability

You have the right to obtain your Personal Information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and for it to be transferred to another organisation, where it is technically feasible. The right only applies:

• to Personal Information which you have provided to us;
• where the use of your Personal Information is based on your consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract; and
• when the use of your Personal Information is carried out by automated (i.e. electronic) means.

Right to object to the use of your Personal Information (including to object to direct marketing)

You have the right to object to the use of your Personal Information in certain circumstances and subject to certain exemptions. Examples of this right include:

• where you have grounds relating to your particular situation and we use your Personal Information for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party); and
• if you object to the use of your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes.

Right to withdraw consent

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on consent to use your Personal Information.

Right to complain to the relevant data protection authority

You have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority, which is, in the case of the Academy, the Information Commissioner's Office, where you think we have not used your Personal Information in accordance with data protection law.

You can contact them on 0303 123 1113, online at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or write to them at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliff House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

To exercise any of these rights, please contact [email protected].

How to complain

We hope we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your Personal Information. If you wish to complain, the first step is to write or speak to the member of Academy staff who has been your contact point. If this does not apply, or you would prefer not to refer your complaint to a staff contact, or you are not satisfied with the response, you should write to the Data Representative at the Academy using the details below.

Your complaint will be acknowledged within three working days and we will try to ensure you receive a response within 21 working days of us sending you our acknowledgement. If we cannot give you a full response within this time we will let you know how long it will take. We will contact you if we require further information.

We will investigate your complaint but if you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are processing your Personal Information unlawfully, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Officer by calling 0303 123 1113. Further information about your rights and how to get in contact is set out on the ICO website.