Provost's update on UCL GDPR online training

The October deadline for the completion of the UCL GDPR Online training has now passed. I am pleased to announce that at the time of writing, 12,007 staff (77.3%) have completed the training. This is an outstanding achievement and is a powerful demonstration of UCL's aim to be GDPR-compliant and to encourage a culture of respect for people's personal data. I wish to extend my warm thanks to all staff who completed the training.

We are keen to get the numbers of people completing the training even higher, and so we have extended the deadline to 30th November 2018. I encourage all staff who have not yet undertaken the training to complete this as soon as possible. You can access the training here: There are different ways that you can complete the training, including a podcast version.

The £1,000 prize

When the training was announced I noted that there would be a prize for the first, second and third Faculty to reach 100%. Although no Faculty has achieved 100% yet, there has been an enormous effort to reach this goal. The GDPR Programme team have recommended that we make the awards to the first, second and third Faculties as at midnight on the 31st October. The rankings are:

1.    Faculty of Brain Sciences - 90.8%

2.    Faculty of Laws - 86.6%

3.    Faculty of Population Health Sciences - 84.9%

These Faculties will receive £1,000, £800 and £500 respectively for a staff event. Congratulations to all.

The draw for the hampers

The GDPR Programme has undertaken a random draw of the staff who completed the training by the October deadline, for a prize each of a hamper worth £100. The winners of the draw are:

Christine Gaston - Faculty of Brain Sciences

Frederic Schwartz - Department of History and Arts

Carew Treffgarne - IOE Social Science

Andrew Hayward - Epidemiology & Public Health

June Campbell - Finance and Business Affairs

Once again, congratulations! The GDPR Programme team will be in touch shortly to arrange delivery of your hamper.

What's next?

The GDPR Online training is now part of UCL's mandatory training for induction. Please ensure that new starters complete the training as part of their probation.

Additionally, the Data Protection office and the Information Security Group have developed two additional training pieces on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and Information Security (IS). This training can be accessed via the same portal as the GDPR training. I encourage all staff to undertake this training.

The UCL GDPR Programme will be running a series of meetings on the practical applications of GDPR in the UCL setting. The programme will cover topics such as: 'alternatives to e-mail'; 'applying a records management plan' and 'how to use legitimate interests'. The team will also respond to your questions and concerns with regard to GDPR compliance. The programme will run in November, December and January; dates and further details will be announced in the next Week@UCL.           

If you have any questions or queries about GDPR or the GDPR Programme, please contact the team at GDPR@ucl.ac.uk

Once again, a sincere thank you to all staff who have completed the training as requested.

Professor Michael Arthur
UCL President & Provost