Information sheets for potential donors
Before we seek consent, it is important that you understand how we work. The donor information sheets below are tailored to specific situations, and they have been approved by a Research Ethics Committee operated by the Healthcare Research Authority. We also include a statement on data privacy, as applicable to the Human Biomaterials Resource Centre.
Adults with full mental capacity
Adults with full mental capacity
Under-18s
Under-18s
Adults with, or expecting, reduced mental capacity
Adults with, or expecting, reduced mental capacity
Data Privacy Notice
Data Privacy Notice
The Human Biomaterials Resource Centre (HBRC) and the University of Birmingham take data privacy very seriously. The information below is aimed at those who intend to donate samples and data to the HBRC, or who have already kindly agreed to donate them.
The University of Birmingham is the data controller for the HBRC. It is committed to respecting and protecting your personal data in accordance with your expectations and Data Protection legislation ("GDPR"). Under data protection law we must specify the legal basis that we are relying on in order to process your personal data. In providing your personal data for this biobank, we will process it on the basis that doing so is necessary for our public task for scientific and historical research purposes, in accordance with the necessary safeguards, and is in the public interest.
The University is a public research institution established by royal charter in order to advance knowledge and education through its teaching and research activities. Our charter can be found on the University of Birmingham website. Health and care research should serve the public interest, which means that we must demonstrate that our research serves the interest of society as a whole. We do this by following the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research. As a university we use personally-identifiable information to conduct research to improve health, care and services. As a publicly-funded organisation, we will ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally-identifiable information from people who have agreed to take part in research.
This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, we will use your data in the ways needed to conduct and analyse the research study. Your rights to access, change or move your information are limited, because we need to manage your information in specific ways in order for the research to be reliable and accurate. If you withdraw from the HBRC protocol, we will need to keep some of the information about you that we have already obtained. To safeguard your rights, we will use the minimum personally-identifiable information possible.
For specific information about the HBRC's use of your data, please read the relevant information sheet(s).
Generally, you can find out more about how we use your information by contacting the University’s Information Compliance Manager (ICM). You can also use this contact if you wish to raise a complaint about how we have handled your personal data. Further information about Data Protection, including your rights and details about how to contact the UK's Information Commissioner’s Office, can be found on the University's data protection webpages. You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are not satisfied with our response to a complaint, or if you believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful.