Cambridge University Botanic Garden – online interaction privacy policy.
This policy sets out how we, Cambridge University Botanic Garden, look after personal data when you interact with us online. It applies to our website (www.botanic.cam.ac.uk), our use of emails for marketing purposes and our use of social media. It also explains how we use cookies. This policy covers what we collect and why, what we do with the information we collect, what we don’t do with the information we collect and what rights you have.
Whenever you see the words ‘we’, ‘CUBG’ or ‘our’ it refers to Cambridge University Botanic Garden which is part of the University of Cambridge.
General personal information collected on our website
When you visit any of the websites within the University of Cambridge domain (www.cam.ac.uk), or interact with us online, the University holds certain personal information (also known as ‘personal data’) about you for service and security reasons. For more information on this, please see the University of Cambridge domain privacy policy and the terms and conditions for use of the University of Cambridge website(s).
What else we collect
We collect information about the people who are involved with CUBG, such as supporters/members/Friends, visitors, event attenders, volunteers and employees.
We collect information in connection with specific activities, such as newsletter requests, research requests, educational activities, Friends membership, feedback or donations. The information is either needed to fulfil your request or to enable us to provide you with requested information and to provide the best possible service.
You do not have to disclose any of this information to browse our website.
We do our very best to keep personal information secure.
We never sell your data and we will never share it with another company or charity for their own marketing purposes.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Normal Garden tickets are sold through The University of Cambridge Online Stores. Read their privacy policy here.
Cambridge Botanic Lights tickets are sold through Cambridge Live. Read their privacy policy here.
Our emails are sent using Mailchimp. Read their privacy policy here.
Using your information for marketing purposes
We only send marketing information to people who have specifically said they agree to us doing this and we will only do so in the way they have agreed to.
If you want to receive this information but haven’t opted in, you can do so by completing the sign up form at the bottom of the homepage of our website: www.botanic.cam.ac.uk.
If we contact you by email to promote Garden activities every message we send will include a link to opt out of receiving future messages if you change your mind. If you want to change how or if you receive our communications, please unsubscribe via the unsubscribe button at the end of our newsletter.
CUBG website and cookie use
CUBG website is maintained by Studio 24, and from time to time will set cookies on your device (either because they are necessary to make the site work and keep it secure, or if you give your consent). You can identify this site’s pages by the URL beginning www.botanic.cam.ac.uk.
Cookies are small text files that sit on your computer and record specific interactions between you and this website, and in some cases, other websites. This information is shared within the University of Cambridge, and in limited cases, with third parties. Below is more detail about the cookies we use, what they record and with whom the information is shared.
List of cookies:
Necessary cookies
Necessary cookies maintain the security of our website’s connection to you. They also make our site work. They always need to be on.
| Cookie Name | Domain | Expiry Time | Description |
| COOKIE CONTROL | www.botanic.cam.ac.uk | 90 Days | Cookie generated by the Cookie Control banner to store user preferences and consent choices. |
| PHPSESSID | www.botanic.cam.ac.uk | Session | Cookie generated by applications based on the PHP language. This is a general purpose identifier used to maintain user session variables. It is normally a random generated number, how it is used can be specific to the site, but a good example is maintaining a logged-in status for a user between pages. |
Analytics cookies
CUBG, in common with many websites, uses Google Analytics, a tool that helps us gain a better understanding of how people use our website and make improvements. Google Analytics employs cookies to collect anonymous information, such as how many visitors there are to the site, how visitors get to our site and the pages that are visited most often. We compile this information in reports about how our website is used. It does not identify individual users or contain personal information. Our site will not load Google Analytics’ cookies if you have changed your web browser settings to reject cookies.
| Cookie Name | Domain | Expiry Time | Description |
| _ga* | cam.ac.uk | 1 year | ID used to identify users. Cookies to track user journeys through the website and sent the data to Google Analytics. |
| _gid | Cam.ac.uk | 24 hours | ID used to identify users for 24 hours |
Marketing cookies
Social marketing preference cookies on our site connect to third-party providers such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. These cookies will be set when you take an action, such as watching an embedded video. Data will be passed back to the third-party provider, allowing that organisation to record how you use their service on our site and show you relevant content, including advertising, when you pass onto their site. Unless you opt-in to receive this type of cookie, we will not set these cookies on your device and you may not be able to use all the functionality described.
| Cookie Name | Domain | Expiry Time | Description |
| VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | Youtube.com | 6 months | Tries to estimate the users’ bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos. Also used for marketing |
|
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA
|
Youtube.com | 6 months | Youtube visitor privacy metadata cookie |
|
YSC
|
Youtube.com | Session | Registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
| SA-USER-ID | tags.srv.stackadapt.com | 1 year | These third party advertising / targeting cookies record information about your website activity, such as the pages you’ve visited and the locations you’ve viewed to enable us to provide you with interest based content and personalised adverts on external websites. |
| SA-USER-ID-V2 | tags.srv.stackadapt.com | 1 year | These third party advertising / targeting cookies record information about your website activity, such as the pages you’ve visited and the locations you’ve viewed to enable us to provide you with interest based content and personalised adverts on external websites. |
| SA-USER-ID-V3 | tags.srv.stackadapt.com | 1 year | Third-party advertising/targeting cookies that track your website activity — such as the pages you’ve visited and the locations you’ve viewed — so we can suggest personalized content and adverts on external websites. |
From time to time the Garden may also employ the use of Meta pixels to monitor the success of specific marketing campaigns.
Data sharing
We only share data where we are required by law or from time to time we may share non-personal data with carefully selected partners who do work for us on our website or within our social media platforms for a limited period of time.
We will hold your data as indicated above.
How to disable cookies
Your web browser will have an option you may select that will block cookies. Below are links to information about popular web browsers and how to block cookies using them.
Other web browsers – see the Information Commissioner’s Office’s website
Please read more about the University of Cambridge’s privacy policy here.
Further information
For more information about how we handle your personal information, and your rights under data protection legislation, please visit Information Compliance | (cam.ac.uk)
This page was last updated in August 2024.