Volunteer confidentiality and anonymity

Your samples and data are important to us so we keep them safe. Samples are not labelled with any personal identifiers (e.g. Surname, First Name, Date of Birth). The majority of data is held on secure servers at the University of Cambridge and the NHS Blood and Transplant. We utilise a process called ‘pseudo-anonymisation’, which ensures that research staff who work on your samples will never be able to identify you from the experimental results. Personally identifiable information such as names, addresses and the answers provided in your questionnaire are held separately and are only accessed by volunteer-facing BioResource staff who may need to contact you for future research studies.

All research studies granted access to samples from the Cambridge BioResource have been ethically approved by local Research Ethics Committees. These bodies have been established to protect your safety, rights, wellbeing and dignity.

If you were recruited to the Cambridge BioResource at a blood donor session, please review our information leaflet here. For all other volunteers, more information on confidentiality and anonymity is available here.