The BabySteps Children of the 2020s mobile application is published by Fullstack, Inc. on behalf of University College London (UCL). The data controller for the Children of the 2020s project is the Department for Education (DfE) Of the UK Government. University College London (UCL) is the lead organization running the research on behalf of the DfE and is responsible for collecting, managing, and storing the data you provide through the BabySteps app as part of the Children of the 2020s Study. Detailed information about the Children of the 2020s Study and how all your personal data are managed are described in the study leaflet posted to you by your Ipsos researcher, which can also be found here. The UCL Data Protection Officer provides oversight of all UCL activities involving the processing of personal data, and can be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk.
This privacy notice sets out the information that applies specifically to the BabySteps app. Further information on how UCL uses participant information can be found in our 'general' privacy notice, which can be found here. The lawful basis that will be used to process your personal data is: ‘Public task’.
The BabySteps app allows you to store photos, make diary entries and your child's development and milestones over time, as well as receive study updates, news and information. The information you enter into the app is held securely on your phone and is yours to keep if you wish. Upon registration, we will ask you to enter your name, your child’s name, your child’s date of birth and your email address in the app. This information will be used for BabySteps functionality/features (e.g., to personalize your app and to reset your password) and for BabySteps specific notifications (e.g., to alert you to newly available research activities, e-voucher rewards, and news or to contact you about app updates). Information you enter into the smartphone app will remain confidential. And only information you enter as part of a research activity will be securely transferred to the Study Team to be linked to the rest of the data you have provided us with as part of the Children of the 2020 Study. The email address and name you provide us will be passed on to our study partners, Ipsos, so that they can send you your reward voucher for completing the in-app research tasks. Ipsos will securely delete this data within one month after receipt. Like all your personal information, Ipsos will only use this data for the Children of the 2020s Study.
The transfer of data between your phone and our secure servers will be conducted using highly secure end-to-end encryption, which means that the information cannot be intercepted or read by anyone else, from the moment the information leaves your phone to it arriving at the Children of the 2020s Study Server. This server is in the UK and is owned by Amazon Web Services, but Amazon Web Services will have no access to your data at all. Only authorised members of the Children of the 2020s team will be able to access the information held on the Study Server. The Children of the 2020s Study Server has the highest standards of security and meets NHS and government-compliant standards of data security and conforms to IS027001 and IS022301 information security guidelines. BabySteps does not have access to any other information collect by your smartphone or by other apps you use on your smartphone. BabySteps cannot access information on your smartphone usage, nor can it track your location. None of your data will be passed to any third parties. The only data BabySteps can collect is the type of phone you have, the Operating System it runs, other technical information to assist in support and debugging, and the information directly entered into the app by you.
The data will be held securely for the duration of the study. At this point, when the first phase of the study ends, your personal data will be securely transferred to the Department of Education. As the Children of the 2020s Study is a longitudinal study and may continue in the future, the DfE will retain your personal data from this study indefinitely unless you ask them to delete it. No-one outside the Children of the 2020s Study team will have access to the personal data you enter into the app at any time. Anonymised numerical data from the study will be made available to appropriately qualified individuals in the scientific community to make the research is as useful as possible for science and policy, but you and your child will not be identifiable in these datasets in any way.
If you wish to, you can withdraw from the study at any time, without explanation, by contacting the research team by emailing children2020s@ipsos.com.
If you are concerned about how your personal data is being processed, or if you would like to contact us about your rights, please contact UCL in the first instance at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk.