Privacy statement

This privacy notice explains how Link2Trials collects and uses your personal data when you visit www.link2trials.uk, complete one of our screening questionnaires or create an account. It applies to people living in the United Kingdom. Our service is intended for adults aged 18 or over.

1. Who we are

Link2Trials helps people find and take part in clinical studies. Link2Trials is the controller of your personal data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This means we decide why and how your personal data is used.

Link2Trials is located at Neptunusstraat 16, 1223 HL Hilversum, the Netherlands, and is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) under number 32122355.

We have a Data Protection Officer, who you can contact with any question about your personal data at privacy@link2trials.com.

2. What personal data we collect

Account and contact details

When you register, we first ask for your email address and a password to create your account. After you have confirmed your email address, we ask you to complete your profile with:

• your name, address, postcode and town or city, so we can contact you, arrange appointments, send you information and show you studies near where you live;
• your phone number, so we or the research site can call you and send you appointment reminders by text message.

We also automatically process:

• your time zone and language settings (locale), to show you the correct time and language;
• your IP address, to protect your account against misuse.

Health information

To check whether a study is suitable for you, we ask about your health. Depending on the study, this may include your sex, age, medication, fertility, height and weight, alcohol consumption, smoking habits and other medical or health information.

Health information is special category data under the UK GDPR. It needs extra protection, and we only collect and use it with your explicit consent. The type and amount of health information we ask for varies per study, because we only ask for what is needed to assess your suitability for the study you apply for.

We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing, and we do not use your data for profiling.

3. Why we use your data and our lawful basis

Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each way we use your personal data. The table below sets out what we use your data for and on which basis.

4. Your consent

Before we collect your health information, we ask for your explicit consent through separate tickboxes on our questionnaire: one for using your health information to check your suitability for studies, and one for sharing your details with the research site. Receiving emails and text messages about new studies is optional and has its own tickbox.

You can withdraw any consent at any time, by deleting your account, by using the unsubscribe link in our emails, by replying STOP to our text messages, or by emailing helpdesk@link2trials.com. Withdrawing your consent does not affect our use of your data before you withdrew it. If you withdraw your consent for the use of your health information, we will no longer be able to match you to studies.

5. Who we share your data with

Research sites

When you apply for a specific study and may be suitable, we share your contact details and questionnaire answers with the research site (such as a hospital or clinic) that runs that study, so they can contact you about taking part. Research sites are controllers of your data in their own right, and their own privacy notice applies once they have received your details. We check in advance that research sites are recognised institutions that comply with applicable laws and regulations. Research sites are normally located in the country where you live.

Study sponsors

The collection and use of personal data for a clinical study is governed by agreements between Link2Trials and the sponsor of that study. The sponsor is usually a controller for the study itself. We do not share information that directly identifies you, such as your name or address, with the sponsor, unless the sponsor is also the research site that conducts the study.

Service providers

We use trusted service providers who process personal data on our behalf and only on our instructions, such as our dedicated hosting provider, which is certified to store medical data. These parties are processors under the UK GDPR, and we have a data processing agreement in place with each of them.

Meta

If you accept marketing cookies, we use the Meta Conversions API to measure how well our advertising on Meta works. We only share what is needed for this, such as anonymous identifiers and the date and time of your interaction. We never share your health information with Meta. You can change your cookie preferences at any time using the cookie settings button on our website.

Legal obligations

We may disclose personal data where we are required to do so by law, for example to a regulator or court.

We do not sell your personal data.

6. International transfers

Link2Trials is based in the Netherlands, and your personal data is stored and processed in the European Economic Area (EEA). The UK Government recognises the EEA as providing an adequate level of data protection, so your data remains protected to UK standards.

Data shared with Meta may be stored on servers in the United States. Meta is certified under the UK Extension to the Data Privacy Framework, which the UK Government recognises as providing adequate protection.

7. How we protect your data

We have taken appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against loss and unlawful use, at a level of security that suits the sensitive nature of the data we process. For example, all connections to your account are encrypted, we use two step verification to sign in, and your password is stored in encrypted form.

8. How long we keep your data

1. Study data: information we collect when you apply for a specific study, such as your questionnaire answers, is kept for 90 days after the study ends and is then securely deleted.
2. Account data: if you create an account to be considered for future studies, we keep your data until you delete your account. If your account is inactive for 10 years, we delete it automatically.

You can update your details or delete your account at any time by logging in, or by asking us at info@link2trials.com.

9. Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:

• access your personal data and receive a copy of it;
• have incorrect or incomplete data corrected;
• have your data erased;
• restrict how we use your data;
• object to our use of your data where we rely on our legitimate interests;
• receive your data in a commonly used format and have it transferred to another organisation (data portability);
• withdraw your consent at any time, as explained in section 4.

To exercise any of these rights, email helpdesk@link2trials.com. We may ask you to confirm your identity before we act on your request. We respond as soon as possible and in any case within one month.

10. Questions and complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer first at privacy@link2trials.com. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and aim to resolve it as quickly as possible.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

11. Changes to this privacy notice

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The latest version is always available on our website, with the date it takes effect. If we make significant changes, we will let registered users know by email.