Privacy Policy
NatureBoost is a research project within the Citizen Scientist smartphone app by King’s College London in collaboration with Nomad Projects. The results will help us develop nature-based solutions to support mental wellbeing in individuals and communities affected by climate change. This Privacy Policy explains the data we collect from you when participating in the NatureBoost study in Citizen Scientist, how we process, store and use it, and how we may share it.
For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“The Act”), King’s College London is the data controller. This means that King’s College London is responsible for protecting the data you provide when you participate in the NatureBoost study. By using the word ‘we’, we refer to King’s College London.
We have adopted this Privacy Policy to ensure that the data that we collect from you via the NatureBoost study is protected. By publishing this Privacy Policy, we aim to make it easy for you to understand what data we collect and store, how and why we collect it, and the rights you have as an individual to access your data. This policy applies to all forms of information, physical and digital, whether collected or stored electronically or in hardcopy.
The information we collect and how we collect it
When you install the Citizen Scientist app and enrol in the NatureBoost Study, we collect data from you. You provide your consent for us to collect this data when you enrol in the NatureBoost study. Your consent to provide this data can be changed at any time using the ‘Settings’ menu in the app. You provide this data anonymously, so we don’t know who you are, and we cannot identify you as an individual.
You will be asked to provide information about your history of mental health and medication status. This will help us better understand the benefits of spending time in nature for different groups of people.
Our app contains links to websites, services, or content operated by third parties (such as apps for monitoring steps, sleep, weather tracking, etc.). Please note that once you leave our app by following such a link, our Privacy Policy no longer applies. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the privacy practices of any third-party sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third parties you interact with.
We collect the following data from you:
Information about you as an individual. When you participate in the NatureBoost study, you provide information about your age, gender, occupation, lifestyle and wellbeing. You also provide information about your current environment, feelings, thoughts and behaviour. You will not be asked to provide your name, contact details or any other information which could identify you.
Geographic location. With your specific consent, we will acquire information about your geographic location using the GPS sensor on your mobile phone. The NatureBoost study collects location data from sources such as GPS, Wi-Fi and cell towers once you enrol in the study and consent to the app tracking your location. While providing location data is essential for participation in the study, you have the option to stop or adjust this collection at any time through the ‘Settings’ menu in the app.
Physical activity. With your specific consent, we will acquire information about your physical activity from your smartphone. We collect your step count, distance travelled and whether you are walking, running or cycling. You may choose to stop or adjust the collection of physical activity data at any time through the ‘Settings’ menu in the app.
Photographs and audio recordings., After each assessment when you use the app, you will have the option of taking a photograph and/or a 15-second audio recording of your current environment. You may choose to delete this data at any time using the ‘Settings’ menu in the app.
While we do not ask for your name, contact details or any other information which could identify you, it is theoretically possible to identify you using information about your geographic location. We will not attempt to identify individuals from their location data.
In addition, we will store the data securely to prevent third parties from attempting to identify individuals from their location data.
How we process and use your information
We process and use the information we collect about you in various ways. We upload your information from your smartphone over a secure connection to servers provided by an external cloud hosting provider to analyse the data. Some of this information is processed and sent back to your smartphone over a secure connection so that you can review and interact with it.
The information you provide will be used for academic research to understand how nature supports mental wellbeing in our changing climate. By participating, you will help us develop nature-based solutions to support mental wellbeing in individuals and communities affected by climate change. The data may also be used for other research purposes in the future. The results will be published in scientific journals and presented on our website, which is dedicated to the project (www.natureboostproject.com), and on social media.
If you post publicly about NatureBoost using social media or communicate directly with us using the NatureBoost website or a social media website, we may collect and process the data contained in such posts to address any requests you may have and for public engagement connected with the research project.
How we store your information
The information you provide during participation in the NatureBoost study is stored on your phone until you uninstall the app. When you connect to a Wi-Fi or cellular mobile phone network, your information is transferred to our servers over the internet in an encrypted format. We encrypt the data you provide using the app so that it remains private, confidential and secure from unauthorised access.
Your data is stored securely on King’s College London servers and with a secure external cloud service provider. The external cloud service provider is currently Amazon Web Services. We reserve the right to change the external data storage provider at any time in the future.
The data that we collect from you will be stored in the United Kingdom (UK). However, it may be transferred to and stored at a destination outside the UK in order to collaborate with other organisations for research purposes in the future. Data may also be processed by third parties and/or staff operating outside the UK who provide services to us in connection with the research purposes.
We will retain data to fulfil the purposes outlined in this policy for an indefinite period of time.
How we may share your information
Your participation in the NatureBoost research project is anonymous, private and confidential. The information you provide will remain with King’s College London and may be shared securely with other organisations collaborating on the project for research purposes. The information you provide may also be shared securely with organisations who provide services to us in connection with research purposes, for example, data storage, as stated in this Privacy Policy. We will not disclose your information to unrelated organisations or third parties under any circumstances.
How we keep your information safe and secure
We take your privacy, confidentiality, and the security of your information very seriously. We will take all reasonable precautions to protect your data from unauthorised access. This includes appropriately securing our electronic networks, servers, computers, and physical facilities.
We store information on King’s College London servers and in the cloud. Our external cloud service provider is currently Amazon Web Services. Amazon Web Services secures the data using technology called ‘256-bit advanced encryption’, which provides a very high level of security, and does not itself have access to the data. We reserve the right to use a different storage provider in future, and if we change provider we will update this Privacy Policy accordingly.
We will endeavour to ensure that our partners or any third parties to which we may transfer data according to the terms of this Privacy Policy have acceptable privacy and security policies. We will govern the sharing of information for research purposes or in relation to services provided to us in connection with the research purposes by data sharing agreements, which will ensure that third parties keep the data safe and secure. However, the collection and use of an individual’s information by such partners or third parties may be subject to separate privacy and security policies for which King’s College London is not responsible.
Complaints and disputes
If you have a complaint about our handling of your data, you should address your complaint in writing to the Project Lead below.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you consider that the processing of your data infringes the General Data Protection Regulation.
If we have a dispute regarding your data, we both must first attempt to resolve the issue directly between us.
If we become aware of any unauthorised access to your data, which is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will inform you without undue delay once we have established what was accessed and how it was accessed by posting a notice on our website. We do not have your contact details, as your participation in the NatureBoost study is anonymous, so we are unable to contact you directly.
Additions to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time. If we decide to do this, we will post a notification on our website and we will post a new version of the Privacy Policy on our website and within the Citizen Scientist app. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon posting on our website.
Contacting us
If you have any questions or communications regarding privacy, please contact the project lead in writing or by e-mail:
Andrea Mechelli, PhD
HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist (PYL27967)
King’s College London
De Crespigny Park
London SE5 8AF, UK
Email: a.mechelli@kcl.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7848 0289