Privacy Policy

We welcome you to Research Trove and our platform at https://researchtrove.com and thank you for your interest in this Privacy Policy. At Research Trove we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy when you use our Platform and Services (“Platform”).

In principle, we will only use your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws, in particular the UK’s Data Protection Act (“DPA”), the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), and only as described in this Privacy Policy.

What is Personal Data?

Personal data is any information relating to personal or material circumstances that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. This includes, for example, your name, date of birth, e-mail address, postal address, or telephone number as well as online identifiers such as your IP address. In contrast, information of a general nature that cannot be used to determine your identity is not personal data. This includes, for example, the number of users of a website.

The Data Controller

Responsible for data processing is:

Research Trove Ltd.
Ventonlace
Flatwoods Crescent
Claverton Down
BATH
BA2 7AH

Web: https://researchtrove.com
E-Mail: [email protected].

General information on data processing

All personal data that we obtain from you via the Platform will be processed for the purposes described in more detail below. This is done within the framework of the DPA and GDPR and of course, only when data processing is permitted and if:

• you have given your consent,
• the data is necessary for the fulfilment of a contract / pre-contractual measures,
• the data is necessary for the fulfilment of a legal obligation or
• the data is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of our company, provided that your interests are not overridden.

We process and store your personal data only for the period of time required to achieve the respective processing purpose or for as long as a legal retention period (in particular commercial and tax law) exists. Once the purpose has been achieved or the retention period has expired, the corresponding data is routinely deleted.

Data processing when you submit it to our Platform

a) Contacting us

If you contact us, we process the following data from you for the purpose of processing and handling your request: first name, last name, e-mail address, and, if applicable, other information if you have provided it, and your message. The legal basis for the data processing is our obligation to fulfil the contract and/or to fulfil our pre-contractual obligations and/or our overriding legitimate interest in processing your request.

b) Data management and customer support

For optimal customer support, we use first name, last name, e-mail address, and the data related to your contract with us. Your data may be stored on our Platform and/or our customer relationship management system (“CRM system”). This data processing is based on our legitimate interest in providing our customer service.

c) Contract processing

We process your first name, last name, e-mail address and the data related to your contract with us to handle the contractual relationship between you and us. The legal basis for the data processing is the fulfilment of our contractual obligations and, in individual cases, the fulfilment of our legal obligations.

If you make a purchase your payment will be processed via the payment service provider Stripe and payment will solely be processed through the payment system of Stripe. The legal basis for the provision of a payment system is the establishment and implementation of the user contract for the use of the service.

d) Registration

Users can create a user account. As part of the registration process, doing so users provide first name, last name, e-mail address during the registration process. The data provided will be used for the purposes of using the account and providing and/or purchasing offerings and using our services. Users may be informed by e-mail about information relevant to the offer or registration, such as changes to the scope of the offer or technical circumstances. If users have terminated their user account, their data with regard to the user account will be deleted, subject to where their retention is necessary for commercial or tax reasons. It is the responsibility of the users to save their data in the event of termination before the end of the contract.

In the context of the use of our registration and login functions as well as the use of the user account, we store the IP address and the time of the respective user action. The storage is based on our legitimate interests, as well as the user’s protection against misuse and other unauthorised use.

e) Profile

As a registered user, you have the opportunity to create a user profile with just a few clicks and details. If you make use of the option, the relevant profile data you provide will be transferred to your profile. Of course, you can change the information at any time via the settings in your profile. When creating a profile, you can submit personal data such as your profile picture, photos and images etc. Most content and data are publicly viewable. You have choices about the information on your profile. You don’t have to provide additional information on your profile; however, profile information helps you to get more from our Services. It’s your choice whether to include sensitive information on your profile and to make that sensitive information public. However, it is not necessary to provide any sensitive information to use our Platform and we discourage everyone from doing so. Please do not post or add personal data to your profile that you would not want to be seen by others. The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is the establishment and implementation of the user contract for the use of the service. We store the data until you delete your user account. Insofar as legal retention periods are to be observed, storage also takes place beyond the time of deletion of a user account.

f) When using our services

We process the data of our registered users, in order to be able to provide our contractual services as well as to ensure the security of our services and to be able to develop it further. The user can upload additional personal and non-personal data, as well as content such as videos, photos and text. Some of the data you choose to provide to us may be considered “special” or “sensitive” in certain jurisdictions, for example your racial or ethnic origins, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. We do not ask for or require any “special” or “sensitive” data for you to use our Platform. By choosing to provide this data, you consent to our processing of that data.

Where any Personal Data relates to a third party, you represent and warrant that the Personal Data is up-to-date, complete, and accurate and that you have obtained the third party’s prior consent for our collection, use and disclosure of their Personal Data for the Purposes. You agree that you shall promptly provide us with written evidence of such consent upon demand by us.

Unless otherwise specified the purposes of processing are contractual performance and service, contact requests and communication, office and organisational procedures, administration, and response to requests, visit action evaluation. The legal basis for the data processing is the fulfilment of our contractual obligations and, in individual cases, the fulfilment of our legal obligations as well as your Consent.

You may withdraw your consent and request us to stop using and/or disclosing your Personal Data for any or all of the Purposes by submitting your request to us in writing to [email protected].

g) Information and personal data you share

Since our goal is to help you make contacts and connections, we naturally disclose user data primarily to other users. For example, your email address will be sent to the organiser of an event when you purchase a ticket or tickets to that event, so that the event organiser can contact all ticket holders to inform them of updates and any other matters regarding the organisation of the event. Event organisers must agree not to disclose your email address to any other party and to use your email address only for the purposes of communicating with you regarding the event. When you voluntarily share information on our Services (including your public profile), you disclose that information to other users. Please be careful with your information and make sure that you only share content that you truly agree to publish, as neither you nor we can control what others do with your information once you share it. If you want to make all or part of your profile or certain content visible only to certain groups of users, you can set appropriate restrictions in your settings. The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is the establishment and implementation of the user contract for the use of the service.

h) Information we receive from others

In addition to the information, you provide to us directly, we also receive information about you from third parties. Also, other users may provide us with information about you while using our Services. For example, we may process information about you from other users when those users contact us about you.

i) Donations

If you decide to support us, the following data is processed by Stripe: Amount of donation, Browser language, and Identifying information about the devices that connect to Stripe. The legal bases of the data processing are our obligation to fulfil the contract and/or to fulfil our pre-contractual obligations and/or our legitimate interest.

Processing of automatically collected data

a) Collection of access data and log files

We also collect data on every access to our Platform. The access data includes the name of the Platform accessed, file, date and time of access, amount of data transferred, notification of successful access, browser type and version, the user’s operating system, referrer URL (the previously visited page), IP address and the requesting provider.

Log file information is stored for security reasons (e.g., for the clarification of abuse or fraud) for a maximum of 7 days and then deleted. Data whose further storage is necessary for evidentiary purposes is exempt from deletion until the respective incident is finally clarified. The legal basis for the data processing is our legitimate interest in providing an appealing Platform.

b) Use of cookies

We use so-called cookies on our web site. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your respective device (PC, smartphone, tablet, etc.) and saved by your browser. For further information please refer to our Cookie Policy. The legal basis for the use of cookies is our legitimate interest.

Integration of third-party services and content

We use content or service offers of third-party providers on the basis of our legitimate interests in order to integrate their content and services (hereinafter uniformly referred to as “content”).

This always requires that the third-party providers of this content are aware of the IP address of the user, as without the IP address they would not be able to send the content to their browser. The IP address is therefore necessary for the display of this content.

Third-party providers may also use so-called pixel tags (invisible graphics, also known as “web beacons”) for statistical or marketing purposes. The “pixel tags” can be used to evaluate information such as visitor traffic on the pages of our Platform. The pseudonymous information may also be stored in cookies on the user’s device and may contain, among other things, technical information about the browser and operating system, referring Platforms, time of visit and other information about the use of our Platform, as well as being linked to such information from other sources.

The following provides an overview of third-party providers and their content, together with links to their privacy policies, which contain further information on the processing of data and so-called opt-out measures, if any:

• System notifications and Mailing: Amazon SES, Amazon WorkMail and FluentSMTP
• Web Hosting Provider: Amazon EC2 through RunCloud
• Analytics and Tracking: Google Analytics by Google Inc
• Newsletter Dispatch: Mailchimp by Intuit Inc
• Spam protection: reCAPTCHA by Google Inc

Transfer of personal data

In the course of our business and Platform operations, we may disclose your personal data by transmission to third parties and, where applicable, to so-called third countries outside the UK and the EEA. Where we transfer data to third parties, we ensure a system of adequate protection mechanism and so-called “processing agreement” is signed with them. We will not disclose or otherwise distribute your personal data to third parties unless this:

• is necessary for the performance of our services,
• you have consented to the disclosure,
• or the disclosure of data is permitted by relevant legal provisions.

However, we are entitled to outsource the processing of your personal data in whole or in part to external service providers acting as processors within the framework of the DPA and GDPR. External service providers support us, for example, in the technical operation and support of the Platform, data management, the provision and performance of services, marketing, as well as the implementation and fulfilment of reporting obligations.

The service providers commissioned by us however will process your data exclusively in accordance with our instructions and we remain in accordance with the DPA and GDPR responsible for the protection of your data. Doing so we always make sure that service providers commissioned by us are carefully selected, follow strict contractual regulations, technical and organisational measures, and additional controls by us.

We may also disclose Personal Data to third parties if we are legally obliged to do so e.g., by court order or if this is necessary to support criminal or legal investigations or other legal investigations or proceedings at home or abroad or to fulfil our legitimate interests.

Duration of data storage

We store personal data on our secure server and only for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed or for as long as any consent you have given us has not been revoked by you. Insofar as statutory retention obligations must be observed, the storage period for certain data may be up to 6 years, irrespective of the processing purposes.

Direct marketing in the context of a customer relationship

Insofar as you have also given us your separate consent to process your data for consulting, marketing and advertising purposes, we are entitled to contact you for these purposes via the communication channels you have given your consent to.

Advertising and marketing

Insofar as you have also given us your separate consent to process your data for marketing and advertising purposes, we are entitled to contact you for these purposes via the communication channels you have given your consent to.

You may give us your consent in a number of ways including by selecting a box on a form where we seek your permission to send you marketing information, or sometimes your consent is implied from your interactions or contractual relationship with us. Where your consent is implied, it is on the basis that you would have a reasonable expectation of receiving a marketing communication based on your interactions or contractual relationship with us.

Direct Marketing generally takes the form of e-mail but may also include other less traditional or emerging channels. These forms of contact will be managed by us, or by our contracted service providers. Every directly addressed marketing sent or made by us or on our behalf will include a means by which you may unsubscribe or opt out.

Your data subject rights

These rights are standardised in the DPA and GDPR. These include:

• the right to information,
• the right to rectification,
• the right to erasure,
• the right to restriction of data processing,
• the right to data portability,
• the right to object to data processing,
• the right to revoke any consent you have given, and
• the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.

Please contact us at any time with questions and suggestions regarding data protection and to enforce your rights as a data subject.

We encourage you to contact us if you have any information requests, requests for information or objections about data processing or concerns. However, you also have the right to file a complaint with your local supervisory authority. However, we would appreciate it if you would contact us with your concern before turning to a supervisory authority.

Security

State-of-the-art internet technologies are used to ensure the security of your data. During the online enquiry process, your details are secured with SSL encryption. For secure storage of your data, the systems are protected by firewalls that prevent unauthorised access from outside. In addition, technical and organisational security measures are used to protect the personal data you have provided against accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, destruction, or access by unauthorised persons.

Updating your information

If you believe that the information, we hold about you is inaccurate or that we are no longer entitled to use it and want to request its rectification, deletion, or object to its processing, please do so by contacting us. For your protection and the protection of all of our users, we may ask you to provide proof of identity before we can answer the above requests.

Keep in mind, we may reject requests for certain reasons, including if the request is unlawful or if it may infringe on trade secrets or intellectual property or the privacy of another user. Also, we may not be able to accommodate certain requests to object to the processing of personal information, notably where such requests would not allow us to provide our service to you anymore.

Withdraw your consent

You may withdraw your consent and request us to stop using and/or disclosing your Personal Data for any or all of the Purposes by submitting your request to us in writing to [email protected]. Should you withdraw your consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Data, it may impact our ability to proceed with your transactions, agreements, or interactions with us. Prior to you exercising your choice to withdraw your consent, we will inform you of the consequences of the withdrawal of your consent. Please note that your withdrawal of consent will not prevent us from exercising our legal rights (including any remedies) or undertaking any steps as we may be entitled to at law.

Data intermediary

Where we process your Personal Data as a data intermediary on behalf of a third party, we will process your Personal Data in accordance with the instructions of the third party and shall use it only for the purposes agreed between you and the third party. All such Personal Data will be protected and retained in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the terms of the DPA and GDPR. We will take steps to inform the third party of any requests, complaints, or questions that you may have regarding such Personal Data.

Third party policies

Our Platform may, from time to time, contain links to and from the Platforms of our partner networks, business partners and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these Platforms, please note that these Platforms have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any Data to these Platforms.

Personal information and children

Our services are aimed at people aged 18 and over. We will not knowingly collect, use or disclose personal information from minors under the age of 18 without first obtaining consent from a legal guardian through direct offline contact.

Online presences in social media

We maintain online presences within social networks and Platforms in order to be able to communicate with the customers, interested parties and users active there and to inform them about our services there. When calling up the respective networks and Platforms, the terms and conditions and data processing guidelines of their respective operators apply. Unless otherwise stated in our privacy policy, we process the data of users if they communicate with us within the social networks and Platforms, e.g., write posts on our online presences or send us messages.

Does this policy change?

We may from time to time update our Privacy Policy, to reflect a change in the law, in our business practices or the cookies we use. This Privacy Policy was last updated on Monday, 27 February 2023.

Do you have any questions?

Please contact us if you have any comments or questions about this policy and/or our use of your Personal Data.