Studentship Data System Terms of Use
Definitions and Interpretation
In these Terms of Use the following expressions shall have the following meanings:
“Minimum System requirements” - the System is accessed through a browser, with the following system requirements:
| Browser | Minimum version |
|---|---|
| Chrome | 108+ |
| Microsoft Edge | 108+ |
| Safari | 16+ |
| Firefox | 115.4+ |
| Opera | 98+ |
| Samsung Internet for Android | 20+ |
“Terms of Use” - these Terms of Use, including any document referred to, as may be amended from time to time.
“The Funding Bodies” – Arts and Humanities Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK Research and Innovation, Innovate UK and Research England.
“The System” – the UKRI Studentship Data System provided by UKRI, including the associated hardware, software, databases and Web pages.
“UKRI” “we”, “us”, “our”, “ourselves” – UK Research and Innovation, the owner and provider of this system.
“User”, “you”, “your”, “yourself” – an individual who uses the System and the organisation(s) you represent.
Please read these Terms of Use carefully before using the System.
A reference to a statute or statutory provision is a reference to it as it is in force for the time being, taking account of any amendment, extension, or re-enactment, and includes any subordinate legislation for the time being in force made under it.
Who we are and how to contact us
The System is operated by UKRI. UKRI is a public body established by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, whose head office is at Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1FL. To contact us, please email support@funding-service.ukri.org or telephone our customer service line on +44 (0)1793 547 490.
By using the System you accept these terms
By using the System, you confirm that you accept these Terms of Use and that you agree to comply with them.
If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you must not use the System.
There are other terms that may apply
These Terms of Use refer to the following additional terms which also apply to your use of the System:
- Privacy notice which explains how we collect, use and store your personal data.
- Cookie Policy which sets out information about the cookies on the System.
If you receive funding from an application submitted on the UKRI Funding Service, you will be provided with Training Grant Terms and Conditions specific to the individual opportunity.
We may make changes to these terms
We amend these Terms of Use from time to time. Every time you wish to use the System, you may wish to check these terms to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time.
We may make changes to the System
We may update and change the System from time to time. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any major changes.
We may suspend or withdraw the System
The System is made available free of charge.
We do not guarantee that the System, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of the System for business and operational reasons without incurring any liability to you. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any suspension or withdrawal.
You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the System through your internet connection are aware of these Terms of Use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.
We may transfer this agreement to someone else
We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms of Use to another organisation. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract.
Who may use the System
The User and use of the System is limited to one or more of the following:
- Research Organisations responsible for the administration of UKRI funded studentships
- UKRI
How you may use material on the System
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in the System, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.
You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from the System for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on the System.
You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on the System must always be acknowledged (except where the content is user-generated).
You must not use any part of the content on the System for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
If you print off, copy, download, share or repost any part of the System in breach of these Terms of Use, your right to use the System will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made (except that you are permitted to print off a copy of these Terms of Use.
Our trademarks
Copying or use of any UKRI logo requires permission from our Brand Team (brand@ukri.org).
Use of third-party logos may require prior approval from the relevant copyright owner.
Your use of the System
You must only view and use those parts of the System to which you have been given access. We reserve the right to stop access to the System (or parts of it) without notice or liability. We may also seek to invoke other relevant organisational, civil or criminal penalties.
You must not upload, distribute or publish on the System any material that:
- is pornographic in content (unless it is a legitimate part of a lawful research proposal)
- is part of criminal or terrorist activities (studies of such activities for lawful research purposes are permissible)
- promotes or encourages racism or intolerance
- is illegal
- is untruthful
- is defamatory, offensive or abusive
- may bring us into disrepute
- is known to be infected with a virus, worm, Trojan horse, trap-door program or malicious code
You agree to indemnify UKRI against any claims, liabilities, damages, or expenses arising from your misuse of the System.
Uploading Content to the System
Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to create content directly, upload or share content to the System, or to make contact with other users of the System, you must comply with the standards set out in our Acceptable Use Policy.
You warrant that any such contribution complies with those standards, and you are liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty. This means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of warranty.
We will consider any content you upload to the System to be non-confidential and not protected by any trade mark, patent or copyright ("non-proprietary"), that is, in the public domain. You own your content, but you are required to grant us and other users of the System a limited licence to use, store and copy that content and to distribute and make it available to others. The rights you license to us are described below.
We also have the right to disclose your identity to anyone who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to the System violates their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy.
We have the right to remove any posting you make on the System if, in our opinion, your post does not comply with the acceptable use standards set out in our Acceptable Use Policy.
If you wish to contact us in relation to content you have uploaded to the System and that we have taken down, please contact support@funding-service.ukri.org or telephone our customer service line on +44 (0)1793 547 490
Rights you are giving us to use material you upload
When you upload or post content to the System, you grant us the following rights to use that content:
A worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence for UKRI, other users, partners or advertisers to use the content in accordance with the functionality of the System to expire when the user deletes the content from the System.
User-generated content is not approved by us
The System may include information and materials uploaded by other users. This information and these materials have not been verified or approved by us. The views expressed by other users on the System do not represent our views or values.
Do not rely on information on the System
The content on the System is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on the System.
Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on the System, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on the System is accurate, complete or up to date.
Your account and how we may use your personal information
To access the System, a request should be made to the lead account holder at your organisation. They will need to provide an email that meets our minimum requirements. We have built in appropriately high standards of security to protect your interests as well as ours. You can request that your user account is terminated by notifying the lead account holder at your organisation. If you are the lead account holder and require assistance, you can contact the Helpdesk (email: support@funding-service.ukri.org or phone: +44 (0)1793 547490).
Data Protection
All personal data provided to UKRI will be processed in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. Further information on how we use personal data, and how you can exercise your rights as a data subject, can be found in the UK Research and Innovation Privacy notice.
All personal data submitted via this system is processed under UKRI’s Public Task as outlined in Section 93 of the Higher Education Research Act 2017. UKRI will use personal data submitted by system users for purposes associated with the application and award processes for training grants and studentships. This includes but may not be limited to:
- setting up and managing your user account
- communicating with you about upcoming system developments
- the resolution of any queries which you may raise
- statistical analysis in relation to the evaluation of training grant and studentship funding
- our inviting you to participate in surveys about the level of services provided by UKRI (this may include research undertaken by a third party on behalf of UKRI)
We will only ask you to provide the minimum amount of data that is necessary for us to be able to meet our purposes.
You are responsible for maintaining your personal data, including contact details, on the System. If you cannot update all your personal data yourself, you should notify the UKRI Funding Service Helpdesk email: support@funding-service.ukri.org (phone: +44 (0)1793 547490), when data is incorrect or out of date. We will then consider how best to update the data. In some instances, for UKRI to carry out core business, your contact data may be amended by UKRI staff. You will be notified of such changes.
All information held by UKRI is kept in accordance with UKRI’s Information Management policy. There will be occasions where information submitted to this system will be pulled into other systems for processing and analysis.
A limited set of data is published relating to funded studentships. More information can be found in ‘Disclosure’ below.
By accessing the System, you accept these terms and conditions, and agree to your personal data being processed by UKRI in this way and stored on the System and on our associated internal systems
If you have any queries with regard to the processing of your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer: dataprotection@ukri.org.
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004
UKRI is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). As such, following receipt of a request, information may be released in accordance with the legislation. This means that any information held by UKRI relating to our funding decision-making processes, regardless of format, is subject to disclosure to the public in response to requests. This could include information that you provide to us about the applications that you have assessed. All requests are handled on a case-by-case basis, and exemptions are only applied where appropriate.
Further information is set out in our Publication Scheme.
Disclosure
The following information provided through the System may be routinely made publicly available on UKRI websites:
- name of the student
- lead research organisation and department
- period of study
- project title
- a description of the subject or study (for example, project summary/abstract).
- name(s) of any partner organisations
- the type of award and funder.
Equality Act 2010
UKRI is committed to ensuring accessibility in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. If you require these terms in an alternative format, please contact support@funding-service.ukri.org or call the UKRI Funding Service Helpline: +44 (0)1793 547 490.
Our IT obligations and yours
We do not guarantee that the System, associated content and emails will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.
You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access the System. You should use your own virus protection software.
We also accept no liability for any loss that may arise from:
- your use of the data from the System
- your use or inability to use the System
- loss, corruption or unavailability of data
- our failure to provide support services associated with the System
- your failure to apply or correctly install any updates to the System
- your failure to have in place the minimum System requirements advised by us
- your use of certain hypertext links in the System which lead to websites that are not under our control.
You must not misuse the System by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the System, the server on which the System is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the System. You must not attack the System via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities, and we will cooperate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the System will cease immediately.
When using the System, you must observe high levels of security to protect the personal details and safety of all users.
You must ensure that:
- you do not share your password with anybody or otherwise make the System available to them
- you do not use the email address or password of another user
- you do not use the System to propagate any virus, worm, Trojan horse, trap-door program or any malicious code (deliberate distribution or creation of computer viruses is an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990)
- you do not invade the rights of privacy or other personal or property rights, or infringe the copyright or trademark or other rights of any person or organisation
- that no actual or potential security breaches occur because of your action
- all security breaches are reported promptly to the UKRI Funding Service Helpdesk (contact details below).
We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms of Use.
If you think someone else knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at: support@funding-service.ukri.org, or by calling the UKRI Funding Service Helpline: +44 (0)1793 547490.
Liability
Nothing in these Terms of Use limits or excludes any liability for (a) death or personal injury caused by negligence, (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or (c) any other liability which by law cannot be limited or excluded.
Except as expressly stated in these Terms of Use, all warranties and conditions whether express or implied by statue, common law or otherwise are hereby excluded to the full extent permitted by the law.
We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with the use of, or inability to use, the System; use of or reliance on any content displayed on the System.
In particular, we will not be liable for, without limitation:
- loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue
- business interruption
- loss of anticipated savings
- loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation
- any indirect or consequential loss or damage.
Jurisdiction
These Terms of Use, their subject matter and their formation are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
These Terms of Use form a legally binding agreement between UKRI and the User upon accessing or using the System.