Privacy policy

Who are we?

In this Privacy Policy, references to "we" or "us" are to The Open University, a UK Higher Education Institution incorporated by Royal Charter in England and Wales. The Open University owns and operates the Research Capability Hub website at rch.ac.uk (the "Website") and is the data controller of the personal data you provide to us. Our main office is at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK7 6AA; for more information, please see www.open.ac.uk.

Legal notice

At all times we will only collect and process your personal information in accordance with all applicable data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

What information do we collect about you?

When you register on, and subsequently access the Website we will collect, store and use certain personal information that you voluntarily disclose to us including email address, name and any other information you choose to disclose.

If you register as a provider, we will collect and store the name of provider / institution, provider email address, telephone number and country / location.

We will also automatically log IP address, browser type and version, operating system, length of visit, page views, geographical location and website navigation, if your browser allows us to.

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website; see our cookies policy for more information.

While we will take all reasonable precautions to make sure that other organisations who we deal with have good security practices, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of those organisations whose websites may be linked to our service.

How we use your personal information

We use the information you give to us:

• to provide, maintain, protect and improve the quality of the Website, and to protect us and our users;
• to manage your profile account that you hold with us; and
• to comply with legal and regulatory requirements;
• to send you notices and updates about the Website.

Collecting this information is in our legitimate interest of operating the website effectively.

 We also use the information:

• to provide you with a personalised browsing experience when using the Website;
• to understand how the Website is used, including the characteristics of our users, so we can improve content, functionality and reach;

Collecting this information is part of our public task in improving research capability.

The main function provided by the Website is to act as a central online gateway to research training and capacity‑building opportunities for social scientists. It enables users to discover, access, and navigate a wide range of training resources, events, and learning opportunities offered by The Open University and other partner and provider organisations, including information and links published by those providers about their own learning resources, supporting researcher development across different career stages, disciplines, and professional contexts.

Sharing and transferring data

Your personal data will not be transferred outside the Open University European Economic Area.

We may transfer anonymised usage data to our partners to support development of the platform and related resources. We will not transfer personally identifying data to other organisations.

How long we keep your personal data

We will normally keep your data for as long as necessary to give you access to the Website. If you have not used your account in the last 12-months, then your account may be classed as dormant or may be deleted. We will delete your account if you request us to.

If you contact us, we will generally keep a record of that correspondence for up to 6 months. If your correspondence has a legal implication, we may keep it for six years after the last communication on that issue.

We will anonymise or delete the log data of site usage after 12-months.

What are your rights?

You have the right to:

• Request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Ask us to correct or update data we hold
• Object to the processing we carry out
• Ask for the data we hold about you to be deleted
• Ask us to restrict the data that we hold about you

If you would like to exercise a right, or make a query or complaint about how your data has been processed, then please contact our Data Protection Officer, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AT.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). 

Changes to the privacy policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. The date of the most recent revision will appear on this page. If material changes are made to the Privacy Policy, for instance affecting how we would like to use your personal information, we will provide a more prominent notice on the Website and will inform you directly via email.

Last revised: 30th June 2026