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Cookie policy

A cookie refers to a text file which is stored on a user's hard drive and is typically used to identify that user when they revisit a website. Another common use of cookies is to store information entered into a form so it does not need to be re-entered on subsequent visits

How do we use cookies?

Understanding how you use our site.

In the next section, we explain in more detail how we use cookies and similar technology on our sites and apps for a number of purposes. Other organisations also collect user information on our sites through cookies, tags and pixels. Tags and pixels, also known as web beacons, are similar to cookies are collected through embedded images.

 

We use three types of cookies:

  • Essential/Necessary – cookies that are essential to provide you with services you have requested. For example, these include the cookies that make it possible for you to stay logged into your account and make comments. If you set your browser to block these cookies, then these functions and services will not work for you. In particular, we won’t be able to save your preferences about cookies.
  • Performance - cookies which measure how often you visit our site. We use this information to get a better sense of how our users engage and to improve our sites and apps, so that users have a better experience. For example, we collect information about which of our pages are most frequently visited, and by which types of users. We also use third-party cookies to help with performance. For example, the Google Analytics cookie gives us information such as your journey between pages and whether you have downloaded anything (details of how to opt out of it are below).
  • Functionality – cookies that are used to recognise you and remember your preferences or settings when you return to our site, so that we can provide you with a more personalised experience. For example, if you are based in the United Kingdom, we will remember this and make sure that you receive the UK homepage when you visit our site, rather than the US or Australia homepage. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies are used.

How to refuse or delete cookies

You may refuse the use of cookies and delete any cookies that are already stored on your computer by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you use our site.

Instructions on how to delete and refuse cookies for various web browsers are available at: allaboutcookies.org. This is not part of our website we are not responsible for its content.

It is also possible to stop your browser from accepting cookies altogether by changing your browser’s cookie settings. You can usually find these settings in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser. The following links may be helpful, or you can use the “Help” option in your browser.

Our website occasionally makes use of "embedded services" such as Facebook, AddThis and Twitter. These third party services may also save cookies on your computer whilst you use our website. We have no control over these cookies and you should seek advice from these services if you wish to understand more about how they use cookies.

You may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies. For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.

Cookies uses via tools it uses to provide a digital experience on https://online.kcl.ac.uk/, Google, Facebook and associated platforms, X (formally Twitter), several of the below are specific to individual platforms and these are noted within each of the descriptions.

Cookie platform details: