We are totally committed to protecting your information and using it responsibly. Please read our policy carefully to understand how we collect, use and store your information.
The processing of your information is carried out by Breast Cancer Now, a charitable company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (Company No. 9347608) and registered as a charity in England and Wales (No. 1160558), Scotland (No. SC045584) and the Isle of Man (No. 1200). Our registered office is at 6th Floor, The White Chapel Building, 10 Whitechapel High Street, London, England, E1 8QS.
From time to time, Breast Cancer Now may also process your information using one of its subsidiaries: BCN Trading Limited and BCN Research Limited, which are both private companies limited by shares (all are collectively referred to in this policy as Breast Cancer Now).
This policy applies to anyone applying or involved in the grant and research process.
If you provide information to us other than in relation to a grant, then please refer to our main Privacy policy | Breast Cancer Now.
This policy outlines the types of information we collect through our online grants management system (powered by Smartsimple), how we use the information you provide, and the measures we take to protect your privacy.
It applies to all data collected during registration and application, whether made directly by the applicant onto Smartsimple or submitted by another method, through to the management of all grant types. Additionally, it covers any information we receive in connection with applications for, or the administration of grants, such peer reviews or publications provided by applicants.
Information we collect and process through our Grants Management System and external sources
We may collect and process several types of information from lead and joint lead applicants, co-applicants, collaborators, reviewers and relevant staff at applicants’ institutions including:
- Name
- Contact details
- CV including education/training, career history, nationality
- Details of applicants’ research proposals including whether the research uses animals and or human tissue
- ORCiD ID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID is a non-proprietary alphanumeric code to uniquely identify scientific and other academic authors and contributors)
- Information relating to career breaks
- Letters of support
- Publications and patents information, as well as citations of these outputs collected from external databases e.g. Europe PMC
- Statements of grant expenditure (SoGE) to monitor grant expenditure, which contain staff salary details
- Grant budgets and invoices
- Progress reports which may contain information about the grant holder or participant(s) on a grant, as well as details of the progress and outputs of the grant including intellectual property
- Information relating to post-award grant issues such as requests for financial supplements or extensions due to unforeseen circumstances, parental leave, sick
leave or other such circumstances - Details of peer reviewers’ and committee members’ assessments of grant applications and progress reports
- Correspondence relating to applications, reviews or awarded grants
- Details of engagement activities
- Details of fraud investigations
We may be given this information by grant applicants or independent reviewers. We may also find this information through industry guides, institution websites and publicly available databases such as ResearchGate, PubMed Central and Europe PMC.
How your information will be used
We will only use your information where we have a legal basis to do so and will always respect your rights. We will use your information because we consider we have a legitimate interest to ensure that we manage our research grants to achieve our charitable purposes in a way that is appropriate, effective and efficient, and that we can demonstrate the validity of our research funding. We will use your information in the following ways to achieve this:
Processing personal data:
- to process applications and administer grants
- to identify peer reviewers for grant applications
- to contact users about:
- funding opportunities and their deadlines or
- any issues of service interruptions, holiday closures and other situations affecting the operation of the grant management system
- to invite researchers to attend relevant events and conferences
- to notify researchers of personal development opportunities
- to conduct surveys with breast cancer researchers
- to invite you to take part in media activities and/or provide expert commentary on research developments and key issues affecting breast cancer patients. This may include promotional materials showcasing our research portfolio, with prior approval from the grant holder or researcher.
- to monitor grant budgets
- to monitor intellectual property arising from the research projects for financial audits
- to publish details of successful grants on our website. This will not include any confidential information but is likely to include the name of the lead researcher(s), the awarded institution, the project title, the grant value, scientific abstract and a lay summary of the grant. Our Research Communications team will seek approval from the grant holder prior to publicising this information on our website to ensure the information is accurate.
- In some cases, we will need to process your information to fulfil our obligation to provide funding to you or because we have a legal obligation – for example, in exceptionally rare circumstances, as part of an on-going investigation, we may be required to share user information if required to do so under a court order, or if requested by the police or other regulatory or governmental authority.
Using aggregated data:
- To assess the fairness of application decisions and identify emerging trends
- To evaluate our research portfolio and track progress against our organisational strategy
- For sector-wide statistical analysis
- To report on the impact of our research and share it with supporters, partners, and the public—through channels such as annual and impact reports. We will also provide updates on our policy and campaign work, as well as key findings in breast cancer research, including via our newsletters.
Data maintenance
Users of the grant management system are responsible for ensuring that their own personal data, including contact details, are up to date. In some instances, in order for us to carry out core business, contact records may be amended by our staff if they have not been updated by the user. This may include core information such as name (e.g. marital name change), title (e.g. Dr to Professor), email address and host institution address details.
We may find this information through publicly available information such as industry guides, institution websites and databases such as ResearchGate, PubMed Central and Europe PMC. Please note that we will not amend personal information provided in applicant’s CV’s as provided in grant applications. This can only be amended by the account holder.
Data retention
We are committed to maintaining accurate records of the research we fund for archival and business purposes. Certain grant-related information will be archived for the lifetime of the charity due to public interest in tracking long-term outcomes and ensuring accountability. We only retain data necessary for specific purposes and will not keep it longer than required, unless legally obligated by contract or other public body requirements.
Sharing your information with third parties
We are a member of various organisations, including but not limited to, the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and Europe PMC. As a member or partner of these organisations, we are required to share information relating to our research portfolio which in turn may be shared on external websites such as Europe PMC.
Before a grant is activated, we will seek permission from the grant holder regarding the information that we can share. Grant holders will be given the opportunity to provide a revised, publishable grant title and abstract to protect any confidential information.
In instances where we are co-funding your grant with another funder, information may be shared with them. This will include details of the full grant application, progress reports and finance statements. Grant holders will be informed at the award stage if their grant is being co-funded and what information may be shared with the co-funder.
Where necessary, and to demonstrate the impact of our funding and the research, we will share your information with organisations outside Breast Cancer Now who are connected to or working on behalf of Breast Cancer Now. This includes:
- Breast Cancer Now’s Intellectual Property (IP) monitoring agent – Cancer Research Technology, who work with Breast Cancer Now funded researchers to identify and commercialise IP.
- Uber Dimensions, a tool that helps us to link publications and other research outputs to the grants funded by Breast Cancer Now, as well as citation information and other metrics that are used to monitor the impact of the research
Information relating to our research portfolio may also be shared with third parties acting on our behalf for the purpose of independent audit.
Queries and complaints:
If you have any complaints about how we handle your personal data, please contact us so we can resolve the issue, where possible. You can read more about how to make a complaint here.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint about any use of your information with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK data protection regulator.
If you have any questions about your data privacy please contact data.protection@breastcancernow.org
If you have any other queries email: grants_admin@breastcancernow.org and mark your email for the attention of Associate director research.
Or write to us at:
Associate director research, 6th Floor, The White Chapel Building, 10 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 8QS
For information about:
- how we keep your information secure
- your privacy rights
- transferring your information outside the UK
please see our main privacy policy here Privacy policy | Breast Cancer Now
Changes to this statement
We may update this policy to reflect changes in how we use your information. You may wish to check this policy each time you provide Breast Cancer Now with your information. Where appropriate, we will provide you with notice of any significant changes to how we use your information.
This policy was last updated on 09.02.2026