The purpose of this notice is to give you a clear explanation of how the Novel and Underutilised Crop Network (NUCNet) will collect and use the personal information that you provide to the network. Personal Information means any information that can identify you.
NUCNet’s vision is to advance research into ways that the UK food system can increasingly adopt novel and underutilised crops (NUCs) by applying cross-disciplinary expertise in concert with industry, policy and community stakeholders focusing on the future of UK agriculture. You can find out more by visiting our website www.novelcropnetwork.ac.uk
NUCNet is hosted and coordinated by the University of Southampton, which is the data controller. Please refer to the University’s privacy notice for further privacy information.
Where does NUCNet get your information from?
NUCNet collects your information directly from you when you sign-up to the network and if you complete our voluntary Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire.
We encourage network members to complete the Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire in full. You may, of course, decide not to answer one, any, or all the questionnaire’s questions but all information provided will be anonymous, only used in aggregate and solely by NUCNet Management for the purpose of providing statistics for equal opportunities monitoring.
Why and what information does NUCNet collect?
To build, maintain and develop the network, NUCNet asks for personal information from interested parties joining the network via the online sign-up form and diversity monitoring questionnaire.
NUCNet will collect and store the following personal data where you have signed up to join the network.
To register you, NUCNet collects the following information
Name, Contact details (e-mail address), Sector, Postcode & Primary Expertise.
NUCNet also invites you to include your other information
Organisation, Role & Career stage.
How NUCNet will contact you?
For NUCNet to keep you up to date with news about the network’s work and the impact it has created it will contact you by email, newsletters and through our social media channels (should you follow us on social media). You can contact NUCNet at any time via novelcropnet@soton.ac.uk to ask to change how the network communicates with you, or to stop all communications.
In the Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire, NUCNet collects Special Category data (Sensitive Information). Providing this data is optional
Age bracket, Health condition or wellbeing , Ethnicity , Gender & Caring responsibilities. This data will help NUCNet to understand the overall network better in terms of demographic information and to monitor our performance in inclusivity. The Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire is anonymised. Any special category information that you supply through this questionnaire will be stored separately from your sign-up information.
If you have been involved in our engagement activities NUCNet may collect following data?
Visual information about you, including photographs and videos. This will be collected during events, such as workshops, to promote the outcomes of these activities, or during the creation of press releases about the Network. There will be clear information detailing what to do if you do not wish to be included.
Dose NUCNet share your personal information? If so with whom?
NUCNet shares personal information you provide the network with the network’s Leadership Team – Project Lead, Network Manager and Project co-Leads at the University of Southampton and Project co-Leads at the network’s third party universities and institutes (University of Reading, NIAB – National Institute of Agricultural Botany, and the James Hutton Institute), and its funding body, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) – part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
NUCNet shares your information if requested with a third party in the following circumstances
Social media and Press: if you give consent to the NUCNet for using your image on our website, on social media platforms or in the media, for promotional purposes.
Communicating with the NUCNet
The Network Manager will use a Mailing List in Outlook to send emails to Network members. The mailing list contains names and email addresses. The Network Manager, Lead and co-Leads have access to the Mailing List. For more information on Microsoft, see its privacy statement Microsoft Privacy Statement – Microsoft privacy. Members can unsubscribe from these emails at any time and information on how to do this will be in the footer of all communications.
How long your data is stored for?
NUCNet will retain the information collected about you for the duration of the project. NUCNet will review the data after three years, at which point members will be informed whether their data will be retained for longer or securely deleted/destroyed.
If your data is to be retained beyond this point, you will receive the latest version of this privacy notice along with information on how to withdraw your data should you choose to do so.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have processed your personal information, please in the first instance contact us , or the University’s Data Protection team via data.protection@soton.ac.uk .
Updates to the Privacy Notice
We may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time. Last updated April 2026.
