Privacy Policy
Last updated: 25 August 2026
The London Basin Palaeontological Society (LBPS) respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly, fairly and transparently.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we may collect through the LBPS website, why we collect it, how it may be used, how long we may keep it, who it may be shared with and the choices and rights available to you.
Who We Are
The London Basin Palaeontological Society is responsible for deciding how personal information submitted through this website is used.
Website: LBPS.org.uk
For questions about this Privacy Policy or personal information held by LBPS, please contact us through our Contact Us page or by email at:
info@lbps.org.uk
Information We Collect
Depending on how you use the website or interact with LBPS, we may collect:
- Your name
- Email address
- Telephone number where voluntarily provided
- Town or general area
- Information supplied in membership enquiries or membership records
- Information submitted through the Contact Us form
- Fossil Site and collecting information
- Details about fossil specimens or discoveries
- Photographs uploaded for fossil identification or recording
- Information about your interests in fossils, palaeontology and Society activities
- Preferences regarding LBPS news and email updates
- Information submitted when recording collecting activities or fossil finds
- Technical information generated through use of the website, such as IP address, browser information and security logs
We aim to collect only information that is relevant to the purpose for which it is required.
Fossil Identification Submissions
When you submit a fossil for identification, we may collect your name, email address, information about where the specimen was found, its approximate size, photographs and any additional information you choose to provide.
This information is used to review the submission, communicate with you and assist with identification.
Where you separately give LBPS permission to use submitted photographs for educational and non-commercial purposes, those photographs may also be used within the LBPS website, Fossil Database, Species and Specimen reference pages, articles, identification guides or other educational material.
Permission for photographic reuse is optional. You can request help identifying a fossil without agreeing to wider use of your photographs.
Further information about photograph submissions is available in our Fossil Submission & Image Use Terms.
Membership Enquiries and Membership
When you register an interest in joining LBPS, we may collect your name, contact details, general location, areas of interest and information about the activities you would like to become involved with.
We use this information to respond to membership enquiries and, where applicable, administer membership and participation in Society activities.
Additional information may be collected where reasonably necessary for membership administration.
Contact Enquiries
When you use our Contact Us form, we collect the information you provide so that we can review and respond to your enquiry.
This may include your name, email address, subject, type of enquiry and message.
LBPS News and Email Updates
Where you choose to receive LBPS news, event or activity updates, we use your email address for that purpose.
You can unsubscribe or withdraw your agreement to receive these communications at any time.
Your choice about receiving email updates is separate from your ability to contact LBPS, submit a fossil for identification or enquire about membership.
LBPS will only send direct marketing communications where permitted by law and will provide a way to stop receiving future marketing communications.
How We Use Your Information
We may use personal information to:
- Respond to enquiries
- Process fossil identification requests
- Administer membership and Society activities
- Maintain collecting and fossil records
- Develop and improve the LBPS Fossil Database
- Operate and secure the LBPS website
- Manage authorised website accounts
- Communicate Society news and updates where appropriate
- Use submitted photographs where the necessary permission has been given
- Meet legal, administrative or record-keeping requirements where applicable
Our Lawful Basis for Using Personal Information
UK data protection law requires LBPS to have an appropriate lawful basis for each use of personal information. The appropriate basis depends on why the information is being used.
Depending on the activity, LBPS may rely on consent, steps taken at your request in connection with membership, legitimate interests in operating and developing the Society and its scientific records, compliance with a legal obligation, or another lawful basis where applicable.
Where legitimate interests are used, LBPS will consider whether those interests are balanced appropriately against the rights and interests of the person concerned.
Where LBPS relies on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawfully carried out before consent was withdrawn.
Photographs and Fossil Records
Photographs submitted to LBPS may remain associated with information supplied about a fossil where necessary for identification, scientific recording or record keeping.
Where you have given permission for educational use, photographs may be incorporated into the LBPS Fossil Database or other LBPS educational resources.
Please avoid uploading photographs containing personal information or precise location information that you do not wish to provide to LBPS.
Where Fossil Site information relates to a sensitive, restricted or privately accessible location, LBPS may generalise or withhold precise location information when records are presented publicly.
Collecting Records and Member Submissions
Members may use the LBPS website to record collecting sessions, matrix processing, fossil finds, specimens and related scientific information.
These records may contain details such as collecting dates, Fossil Sites, Geological Units, fossil identifications, photographs, collecting effort and other scientific observations.
Scientific information may be retained as part of the LBPS research and database record even where associated account or contact information is no longer required, where this can be done lawfully and appropriately.
Where information is displayed publicly, LBPS may restrict, generalise or withhold sensitive locality or personal information where appropriate.
How Long We Keep Information
LBPS does not intend to keep personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
General contact enquiries will normally be retained for up to 12 months after the enquiry has been resolved.
Unsuccessful or incomplete membership enquiries will normally be retained for up to 12 months.
Membership records will be retained for as long as required to administer membership and for an appropriate period afterwards where reasonably necessary for administrative, legal or record-keeping purposes.
Fossil identification enquiries will normally be retained for up to 24 months after the enquiry has been completed, unless information or photographs form part of an ongoing scientific, database or educational record.
Email-update preferences will be retained until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove your details.
Photographs authorised for educational or Fossil Database use may be retained for as long as they remain relevant to that resource, subject to any applicable right to withdraw consent.
Scientific fossil, specimen, locality and collecting records may be retained for longer periods where they form part of the continuing scientific or historical record of LBPS. Personal information associated with those records will be limited or removed where it is no longer necessary to retain it.
Who We Share Information With
LBPS does not sell personal information.
Personal information may be accessible to authorised Society administrators, reviewers, editors or volunteers where they need it to perform an appropriate Society role.
We may also use service providers to operate the website and associated services, including website hosting, email, security, backups and form processing. These providers may process personal information on behalf of LBPS where necessary to provide those services.
Information may also be disclosed where required by law or where reasonably necessary to protect the security of the website or the rights and safety of LBPS or others.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
The LBPS website may use cookies and similar technologies where they are needed for website functionality, security, administration, account access and other website features.
Where a cookie or similar technology is not strictly necessary, LBPS will obtain any consent required before it is used. Technologies that are strictly necessary for the operation or security of a service requested by the visitor may be used without consent where permitted by law.
If LBPS introduces additional analytics, advertising or other tracking technologies in future, this Privacy Policy and any relevant cookie controls will be reviewed and updated as required.
Embedded Content From Other Websites
Some pages may contain embedded content such as videos, maps or material provided by third-party websites.
Interacting with embedded content may allow the third-party provider to collect information or use cookies in accordance with its own privacy practices.
Where consent is legally required before third-party technology can be activated, LBPS will use appropriate controls before that technology is loaded.
Website Accounts
Most visitors do not need an account to use the LBPS website.
Where members, administrators, editors, identification reviewers or other authorised users have website accounts, WordPress and associated website systems may store information required to manage those accounts and control access to website features.
Account information is used only where necessary to administer access, protect the website, operate member features and maintain appropriate records of activity.
Your Data Protection Rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, UK data protection law may give you rights to:
- Be informed about how your personal information is used
- Request access to personal information held about you
- Ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected
- Request erasure of personal information in certain circumstances
- Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances
- Receive certain personal information in a portable format where applicable
- Object to certain uses of your personal information
- Withdraw consent where processing relies upon consent
These rights do not all apply in every circumstance because some depend on the lawful basis and purpose of the processing.
Your right to object to direct marketing: You have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal information for direct marketing. If you ask us to stop using your information for this purpose, we will do so.
To exercise a data protection right, withdraw consent or ask a question about personal information held by LBPS, please contact us using the contact details above.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how LBPS has handled your personal information, please contact us so that we can investigate your concern.
You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator.
The ICO can currently be contacted by telephone on 0303 123 1113. Further information is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office website.
Security
LBPS takes reasonable organisational and technical steps to protect information held through the website against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.
Access to website administration, member information and submitted records is restricted to people who require appropriate access for legitimate Society purposes.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
LBPS may update this Privacy Policy when our website, services, legal obligations or information-handling practices change.
When the policy is updated, the date at the top of this page will be changed so visitors can see when it was last reviewed.