🔒 Your Data, Our Promise: How We Keep Your Information Safe

Melinda Mills
Nov 8
4 min read

Let’s be honest — when it comes to data, trust is everything at Data4Science, your privacy isn’t just a policy. It’s the foundation of everything we do.

We know that joining us means placing your personal data in our hands — and that’s a big deal. So, here’s how we protect it, why you can feel confident taking part, and what “risk” really looks like (spoiler: it’s pretty minimal).

🧱 Built on Trust, Backed by Law

We follow the strictest international privacy laws — including the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR, and other global standards — to make sure your data is handled safely, fairly, and transparently.

Everyone who works with your data — from the Data4Science research team to approved external scientists — must sign a formal agreement promising to follow these same rules. No exceptions.

We partner only with organisations that meet the highest security certifications:

ISO 9001 (Quality Management)
ISO 27001 (Information Security Management)

That means our systems are checked by independent experts to make sure they’re as secure as possible.

You can read the latest details anytime in our Privacy Policy — because real transparency means sharing how things actually work.

🔒 How We Protect Your Data

When your data moves or sits in storage, it’s always encrypted — transformed into a secret code that only authorised systems and people can read.

Data is encrypted when it’s in transit (being sent).
It stays encrypted at rest (when stored).
And your personal details — like your name or email — are kept separate from your research data.

We also de-identify your data, which means the files researchers use can’t link back to you directly. Only a tiny number of trusted team members can access the system that connects your name to your coded data — and only when absolutely necessary.

Everything sits inside secure computer systems that follow international privacy and security standards.

Even though no system on the planet is completely risk-free, we use the strongest protections available and review them regularly to stay ahead of threats.

🤫 Total Confidentiality

Everything you share with Data4Science is treated with strict confidentiality. We don’t sell your data. We don’t trade it. We don’t hand it over for marketing or advertising. We exist to use data for good science.

So even though we can’t promise a 0% risk (no one can), we can promise that the risk is very low — and that we do everything possible to keep it that way.

🧭 What Are the Risks of Joining?

Here’s the good news: there are no physical risks when you take part in Data4Science. No needles, no lab tests, no medical procedures.

The only thing you might notice are the kinds of insights that come from studying your data. For example, we might show you patterns like when you’re most active online or which times of day you move the most. You probably already have a sense of this — but seeing it visualised can be surprisingly revealing (and fun).

Occasionally, we may find something unexpected in your data — what scientists call an “incidental finding.” That could be, for example, a potential health indicator in your fitness tracker data. It’s rare, but if it ever happens, you can choose whether you’d like to hear about it. If you do want to know, we handle it through an independent expert committee to make sure it’s delivered safely and respectfully.

🧠 Your Data, Your Choice

You’re always in control.

We have ethics advisors and an independent board who constantly oversee our work, ensuring your wellbeing and privacy come first.

If our ethics advisors finds that some of the material shown back to you might be sensitive, we’ll first show you an example from another fictitious person so you can decide if you want to see your own. You get to choose what you see, what you share, and when to stop.

🚨 In the Rare Case of a Problem

If something ever goes wrong — for instance, a data breach — we have a clear emergency plan.

Under GDPR law, we must (and will) tell you promptly if your data might have been affected, explain what happened, and outline the steps we’re taking to fix it.

We treat data protection the way pilots treat safety checks: constantly, carefully, and never as an afterthought.