The Sutton Trust is carrying out a piece of research to look at the educational background of high profile figures in Film, Television and Music, for a research project looking at access to creative industries for socioeconomically disadvantaged young people.
Figures are considered high profile if:
- They have had an album in the overall top 40 chart of the year, or a number 1 album in the Classical music chart
- They have been nominated for a BAFTA award
We’ve carried out similar data collection on industries including Film, Television and Music in 2019 and 2016.
Collecting data
Data is collected from desk-based research, using a range of different sources including (but not limited to):
- Local newspaper reports
Where we are unable to find data publicly online, we contact individuals directly, for example via email, phone, LinkedIn or X (Twitter), asking them to provide information on their educational background (school and university).
Type of data held
For our research into the educational backgrounds of creative elites, we simply collect data on the school and university education, gender and age of individuals.
Lawful basis for processing
The Sutton Trust processes data on educational backgrounds under the following bases:
Legitimate interests: This is the basis by which we process publicly available data on educational backgrounds, and by which we contact individuals directly if educational background information is not publicly available. Conducting this research plays a role in fulfilling the Sutton Trust’s charitable mission of fostering social mobility across the UK. By looking at the educational backgrounds of elite figures in creative industries, we gather valuable insights into how access to creative industries like Film, Television and Music differs for individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds. This aligns with our goal of promoting social mobility and ensuring that every individual has a chance to thrive irrespective of their socio-economic background.
Consent: Where data has been provided by an individual directly, it is processed by the Sutton Trust on the basis of consent.
Confidentiality – Who we share your data with
Where data on an individual is publicly available online, we classify this as “open” data, which can be shared with other researchers on request, as long as we identify a lawful grounds to do so.
Where data is collected by consent, we will not share it with any third party, other than in an agglomerated and anonymised form, e.g. reporting the proportion of all BAFTA nominated actors who attended a private school.
Retention periods
Data on educational backgrounds is stored by the Sutton Trust indefinitely, for historical research purposes, to allow research to be carried out in future which makes comparisons over time. Where data has been provided by individuals on the basis of their consent, consent can be removed at any time by contacting [email protected], and the data they provided will be deleted.
Data security
We take the security of your data very seriously and ensure appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place to protect it against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and against accidental loss, destruction or damage. Your data will at a minimum always be password protected and the number of staff who can access this will be restricted to those for whom access is strictly necessary for the research project.