About cookies and web privacy

This statement explains how we use cookies on the Department of Physics webpages. For information about what types of personal information will be gathered when you visit the website, and how this information will be used, please see our Privacy Policy.

How we use cookies

All our web pages use "cookies". A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we place on your computer or mobile device, if you agree. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of our website, which helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and enables us to improve our website.

Types of cookies we use

We use the following types of cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies - these are essential to enable you to move around the website and use its features. Without these cookies the services you have asked for, such as registering for an account, cannot be provided.
• Performance cookies - these cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often. We use this information to improve our websites and to aid us in investigating problems raised by visitors. These cookies do not collect information that identifies a visitor.
• Functionality cookies - these cookies allow the website to remember choices you make and provide more personal features. For instance, a functional cookie can be used to remember the volume level you prefer to use when watching videos on our websites. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.
• Targeting cookies - these cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They collect information about your browsing habits. Targeting cookies are linked to services provided by third parties, such as 'like' and 'share' buttons and advertisements. We use targeting cookies to send third parties information on your visit so that they can make their advertising more relevant to you when you visit their websites.
• Content management purposes - We use the open content management system Drupal which requires setting an anonymous cookie to function. At this level any disclosure of information from this cookie will be in aggregate form and will not identify individual users. When logged in to the site, it is assumed that you are a departmental member and an additional cookie will be set to identify who you are and which areas you have access to.
• Architectural structure - ASP.NET. These are built into the .NET architecture. They requires setting cookies to map each user to a session state information on the servers (web/database), so that the correct information is returned. By default, ASP.NET use non-persistent cookies to store the session IDs. ASP.NET is widely used on the www.physics.ox.ac.uk server for content formatting purposes and for online applications (such as Lecture lists).
• We also use a cookie which remembers whether you wish to view the cookie notice or not (dontshowCookieNotice).
• We also use cookies which relate to Google to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. If you consent to our use of cookies, they will collect information about the type of device (and its unique device identifier) you use to access our site, the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your device to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, mobile network information and platform. Any disclosure of this information will be in aggregate form and does not identify individual users;
• Information about your visit to our site including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL), clickstream to, through and from the Website (including date and time), pages you viewed, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.
• There are also some third party services which use cookies, such as the video streaming facilities offered by YouTube, Vimeo for video and Google maps for conferences. These sometimes embedded in our pages.

Specific cookies we use

Cookies may be set either by https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk and/or http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk ("first party cookies"), or by a third party website such as Google or YouTube ("third party cookies"). The tables below identify the cookies we use and explain the purposes for which they are used.
We continue to collect information about third-party cookies and the tables below are based on the work completed to date. Accordingly, we may update the information contained in this section from time to time. Additionally, some cookies may be set from time to time by feeds from third party websites that we make available on our sites.

Controlling cookies

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings for example by going to 'Options > Privacy and Security' in Firefox. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them please visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

Blocking cookies may affect your ability to use aspects of this website. For the most part, your use of this website will not be affected by doing so. However, some functionality may no longer work (e.g. online lecture lists, videos and dynamic maps).

Changes to our Cookie Statement

Any changes we may make to our Cookie Statement in the future will be posted on this page.
Contact

Any queries or concerns about the use of cookies on this website should be sent by email to contact@physics.ox.ac.uk or addressed to Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU

Physics Third Party Cookies

Below are is an audit of the known publically used cookies you are likely to encounter depending on which areas of the site you browse to: