The SEED Citizen Science Hub Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy outlines how the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (the Department) manages personal information in its administration of the SEED Citizen Science Hub (the Site).  

The Site is a user-driven platform which users can choose to engage with at different levels. This means that once you register a user profile, the amount and type of personal information you provide to the Department through the Site will depend on what you decide to make available.

Information collected when you register a User Profile

You are not required to register as a user on the Site. However, you must register in order to use certain functions on the Site. If you choose to register in order to make use of these Site functions, the Department will collect your personal information.

Some of this information must be provided in order to successfully register. Required information is marked with an asterisk in the registration form and includes: your full name, age bracket, email address, areas of interest, preferred projects tasks and postcode.

When registering, you have the option to also provide personal information to the Department that is not required for you to register. This include details about your education, employment status, gender, whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and other details you choose to share in the ‘about’ section. The information you provide in the ‘about’ section is up to you.

All information you provide must be accurate and consistent with the Terms and Conditions, including the Code of Conduct.

If a person is under 16 years, a parent or guardian must approve the disclosure of the information to the Department. The Department may request proof of approval at any time. 

Information collected when you participate in the Site

As a registered user, you may decide to participate in the Site which gives you the option to provide additional personal information to the Department. Any additional personal information that you do provide is not solicited by the Department.

Any unsolicited additional personal information you give to the Department will not be covered by this privacy policy.

Why is the Department collecting my personal information? How will the information be used?

Information collected through registration will only be used for the purpose for which the information is collected.

The Department collects personal information for the purposes of:

• administering the Site, which has been created to facilitate and support the growth of the citizen science community;
• building a citizen science community though the site and enhancing linkages with other sites;
• research to monitor the success and useability of the Site. We will use reasonable endeavours to de-identify the information before it is used for this purpose.

You may be contacted by either the Agency or other persons with user profiles or project profiles through notifications or emails as part of the functions of the Site.

How the information is used will also depend on other users, and how they interact with the information that is made publicly available on the Site. The amount of information available will depend on how you choose to engage with the Site.  

Disclosure of information collected

Some information you provide will be publicly available on the Site

Some of the information you provide on the Site will be publicly available. You acknowledge that personal information may appear publicly on the Site when you use some of the functions, such as registering a project. In this case, only your name and provided picture will appear on the project profile page. Your user profile will not be publicly displayed as it is only viewable to those that have also created a profile and are currently logged in.

We will not disclose the information we collect that is otherwise not publicly available on the Site, unless with your consent or in other circumstances where such use or disclosure is permitted under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 or any other law.

The amount of information that is made available on the Site will depend on you and what you choose to disclose or make available on your user profile and your privacy setting selections.  

Information Shared with Third-Party Sites

Project profiles and personal Unique Identifying Information (UII) may be shared or linked to and from third-party sites now or in future, consistently with the terms and conditions, for the purpose of facilitating citizen science. Such sites include the Atlas of Living Australia and UII may include name, email address, scientific licence number and academic codes (ORCHID iD etc.).

Your personal information (including your email address) will not be automatically added to a mailing list, sold or otherwise transferred to a third party for commercial purposes.

Storage of personal information

Access and amendments of personal information

Under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 you have the right to access and change the personal information the Agency holds about you.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the information we hold is accurate, complete and up to date, so we encourage you to advise us if the information you have given us has changed.

If you believe our information is inaccurate or would like us to remove information you have provided, please contact us on the details provided below and we will amend or remove the information.

Retention

We will retain the information you have provided for a period that is appropriate for the purpose for which it was provided. Your information will be archived and disposed of in accordance with the Agency’s policies, legislative requirements and guidelines based on the NSW State Records Act 1998.

We take reasonable steps to protect information, which includes the use of data encryption and firewalls, to minimise unauthorised access.

Contact Us

Please contact the Department on [email protected] if you have any questions regarding these terms.