This version is in effect since 12 March 2017
Introduction
This privacy policy (hereafter the "Privacy Policy" or "Policy") describes how the private limited liability company incorporated under Belgian law AcademicLabs, with registered offices at 9000 Gent, Korenmarkt 14B, Belgium, registered at the Register of Legal Entities of Ghent, section under the number 0643.547.983 and known by the VAT- administration under the number BE 0643.547.983 (hereafter "AcademicLabs") receives and collects information through her website academiclabs.com (hereafter the "Website") and the corresponding digital platform (hereafter the "Digital Platform") and how AcademicLabs treats information from its users.
1. Website and Digital Platform practices
The services of AcademicLabs (hereafter the "Services") allow a user (hereafter a "User", "user", "Member", "member", "you" of "your") to search and browse for research and associated information found within profiles of, amongst others, individuals, units, organizations, networks of such individuals, units or organizations, as well as to request such or other information and get in touch with contact persons of such a profile. Members are allowed to create and edit profiles. Such profiles can be shared with others through the creation of third party permissions or through social media or other online channels. Visitors are allowed to search and browse for research and associated information found within profiles. Via a shared url of a profile, a Visitor is allowed to visit a profile. When using any of the Services of AcademicLabs, you consent to the collection, transfer, manipulation, storage, disclosure and other uses of any materials, including but not limited to information, text, illustrations, videos, logos, icons, software, design, applications, sheets, models, data, or any of these elements in combination (hereafter the "Content") under the strict circumstances as described in this Policy. When you upload, download, post, email, analyze or otherwise transmit Content to or through the Website and/or the Digital Platform, share Content or allow third parties access to the Website and/or Digital Platform, you should think carefully about what you are making public about yourself, others, your units, your organizations and your communities. We do not accept any responsibility and/or liability for possible breaches of the privacy rights of third parties committed by you. For more information relating to your use of the Website and/or the Digital Platform and your responsibilities towards the Content you upload, download, post, email, analyze or otherwise transmit, please consult our Terms and Conditions.
2. What information do we collect?
2.1 Automatically collected technical information
Through the Website and/or the Digital Platform we automatically collect certain technical information regarding our Guests, such as the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer, the IP address of the Internet Service Provider, the date and time you have accessed the Website and/or the Digital Platform, the Internet address of the website from which you have linked directly to the Website and/or the Digital Platform, the operating system you use, the sections of the Website and/or the Digital Platform you visited, the Website and/or Digital Platform pages you accessed, the information you viewed, the search queries you entered and filters you used, the profiles you set up and hold, the profile Content you provide, the profiles and websites that you visit, the identity of contacts you get in touch with (but not the content of the message), the duration of your visit to the Website and/or the Digital Platform, etc. This technical information is only used for the needs of the Website and/or the Digital Platform, system administration purposes and to improve the Website and/or the Digital Platform. This technical information may be disclosed to third parties, but only for the purposes mentioned under point 4.1,and will be archived for as long as necessary for AcademicLabs to provide its Services. AcademicLabs will delete the data relating to the profile as soon as possible, after the deletion of a profile on the Digital Platform.
2.2 Personal information
We collect personally identifiable information that is specifically and voluntarily provided by you. We do not collect sensitive information (e.g., data relating to race or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, criminal record, physical or mental health, or sexual orientation) from you. We shall, where necessary, obtain your explicit consent should we wish to collect and use information of this nature. You submit personal information by registering to the Website and/or the Digital Platform to obtain a user account in order to use the Website and/or the Digital Platform, by contacting us by e-mail or by means of our contact form to subscribe to our newsletter, to order our consultancy services or to obtain information from us relating to our Services. From those who use the free version of AcademicLabs we may collect the following, but not limited to, information: name, email address, phone, organization information, academic title, function title, photos, IP address, unique identifiers (e.g. OrcID), social media information (e.g. Twitter handle) that you may choose to provide us. From those who use a paid version of AcademicLabs we may collect the following, but not limited to, information: name, email address, phone, organization information, academic title, function title, photos, IP address, unique identifiers (e.g. OrcID), social media information (e.g. Twitter handle), credit card information or other payment information that you may choose to provide to us. From those who subscribe to our newsletter we collect the following information: email address and name. From those who use our contact form we collect the following information: name, email address, organization. As part of the AcademicLabs Services, AcademicLabs Members can invite non-registered friends or colleagues to join the AcademicLabs Services by sending invitation emails through use of their accounts via our (automated) invitation system. AcademicLabs stores the email addresses that Members provide (and the email address of the inviting Member) only for the purposes of sending the invitations, and sending reminders of the invitations (up to five (5) per email address). Recipients of invitations from AcademicLabs Members may contact Academiclabs at support@academiclabs.com to request the removal of their email address from our database.
2.3 Public information
By means of information that is publicly available through no act or omission of us we make a profile of, amongst others, individuals, units, organizations, communities without making any infringements to another's rights and only in so far it is necessary for the AcademicLabs Services. We do not accept any responsibility and/or liability in this case, nor to, amongst others, the fitness for a particular purpose, to accuracy as to completeness. Should you believe that such a certain profile violates any of your privacy (or other) rights, please notify AcademicLabs immediately by using the following e-mail address: support@academiclabs.com. AcademicLabs will do its best effort to respond to all such notices and take appropriate action.
3. What about cookies and web beacons?
We refer to our Cookie Policy, which can be consulted on the Website and/or the Digital Platform, for any further information. The Website and/or the Digital Platform of AcademicLabs or AcademicLabs' service provider(s) may use cookies (small text files stored in your browser) to collect aggregate data. Cookies themselves do not personally identify you, they merely recognize your web browser. We do however analyze the traffic to and/or your use of the Website and/or the Digital Platform with Google Analytics. Google Analytics is subject to the privacy policy of Google which you can find on Google's website. By visiting the Website and/or the Digital Platform or using the Services, you are agreeing to the terms of the Google Privacy Policy that apply to Google Analytics. We are not responsible for any changes made to the Google Privacy Policy or of advising you of such changes. We reserve the right to change analytical service providers at any time without notice.
4. For what purposes do we collect your data?
4.1 General purposes
We use and process collected Content to: enhance your experience of the Services; to make your profile accessible to others, in order to make matchmaking possible; to make it possible to e-mail to others via the Digital Platform; to share your profile actively to others, in order to propose a match; to add statistics to the profile of Members; to develop new functionalities to expand our Services; operate and maintain the Services; investigate and understand how our Services are used; monitor and protect the security and integrity of the Services; analyse our business; contact you for a demo and/or to further discuss your expressed interest in the Services and to send you the requested information; send you our newsletter when you subscribed; analyse user and usage statistics; create aggregate tracking information reports regarding Guest demographics and the use of the Website and the Digital Platform; to process your registration and create your user account as to give you access to the Digital Platform; to inform you about other services that we provide. The above mentioned purposes are restrictive. If we do, however, want to use the collected Content for any other purpose, we will contact you and/or obtain, where necessary, your explicit consent, if necessary.
4.2 Communication to third parties and direct marketing
We may disclose personal information as required by law or in response to service of legal process, such as a court order, summons, subpoena, or the like. We may share personal information with business partners who provide services related to the Services (such as website hosting or payment processing) to the extent necessary. These business partners do not have the right to use this personal information for any purpose other than those related to the Services. We may share personal information (such as your name, e-mail address, phone number, unit info, organization info, function title, academic title, scientific disciplines and application domains of your interest, info related to your sector, address, or link to your profile) with Members of AcademicLabs as we consider them as business partners, to the extent necessary from the moment you have visited their profile, listed their profile, clicked on one of the links they shared, requested their contact info, printed or exported information from their profile, or shared their profile link. These business partners do not have the right to use this personal information for any purpose other than those related to the Services. As a User, you are allowed to opt out from sharing personal information to the extent that Users are unable to identify your identity. In such situation, we may still share the following personal information: organization name or function title, academic title, scientific disciplines and application domains of your interest, info related to your sector. Information about our Users, including personal information, may be disclosed or transferred to entities now or in the future affiliated with us or as part of any merger, acquisition, change of control, debt financing, insolvency, bankruptcy or sale of our assets. Such information may be used in the businesses of any entity so receiving it. We carefully selected external service providers and review them regularly to ensure that your privacy is preserved. All such third party processors are contractually bound by us to keep your information confidential. All information provided to third party processors is used by them only to carry out the service they are providing for us. Except as provided above, we will never communicate your personal data to third parties and/or use your personal data for direct marketing purposes, unless you have given your preliminary consent. Once you have given your consent, you are free to change your mind at any time. Belgian law states that any user (defined as Guest in this Policy) has the right, upon request and with no charge, to express its objection to the treatment of his/her personal data used for direct marketing purposes. Any request can be made by sending an email to the following e-mail address: support@academiclabs.com or by letter to AcademicLabs, Korenmarkt 14B, 9000 Gent, Belgium. It is possible that the handling of your request, will take several days. We will take care of any request as soon as possible and within 10 working days at the latest. Within this period, it is possible that you still receive communication by AcademicLabs.
5. Who is responsible for handling a GUEST's personal data?
The entity responsible for handling your personal data collected on the Website and/or Digital Platform is ACADEMICLABS. For any question related to the protection of your privacy, please send an email to the following e-mail address: support@academiclabs.com.
6. How can a User access or modify his personal data?
Once you have registered with us, you are in possession of an account by which you can access your profile and apply modifications. You may ask us, free of charge, to amend all your personal data from our database by sending an email to support@academiclabs.com or a letter - enclosing a copy of your identity card - to the responsible for the data treatment, namely Mr. Arne Smolders, to the following address: 9000 Gent, Korenmarkt 14B. We will take care of any request as soon as possible and within 10 working days at the latest.
7. Users data
User's data is all Content uploaded, downloaded, posted, emailed, analyzed or otherwise transmitted by a User to or through the Digital Platform. You are solely responsible for all Content that you upload, download, post, email, analyze or otherwise transmit to or through the Website and/or the Digital Platform. We will not process User's data, except for the purposes mentioned under point 4.1. With regard to the correctness of the data and Content, we are consequently to be considered solely as processor (cfr. Belgian and European privacy regulation ("verwerker")). You are and remain the controller of these processed data and its Content and are responsible to keep the data and Content up to date. You are considered to grant the necessary confidentiality to User's data and to also make sure that third parties who you grant access to your user account or share Content with also comply. We cannot be held responsible for (the loss or incorrect use of) User's data by you or any other third party. We will only grant access to the User's data to third parties as described in Article 4.2 and when this is required by law or in response to service of legal process, such as a court order, summons, subpoena, or the like, or when you have explicitly granted access or gave permission to grand access to third parties yourself. Each cost or damages the granting of such access may cause others is at your expense.
8. Other matters
8.1 Security
We use rented servers who are physically located within the European Union. We and/or our providers make all reasonable efforts to keep the servers, applications and databases secure and free from unauthorized access and use, by using physical, administrative and technological measures to protect the information maintained. Unfortunately, no one can guarantee 100% security. In case of particular security concerns about certain personal information, it is up to you to decide not to transmit that information over the Internet. For more information relating our security measures, please contact us at support@academiclabs.com.
8.2 Other Websites
The Website and the Digital Platform may contain links to other websites, digital platforms or Internet resources. When clicking on one of those links you are contacting another website or Internet resources that may collect personal information voluntarily or through cookies or other technologies. We have no responsibility, liability for, or control over those other websites or Internet resources or their collection, use and disclosure of your personal information. We recommend you to review the privacy policies of those other websites and Internet resources to understand how they collect and use information.
8.3 Privacy Policy Changes
We may change, supplement or amend this policy as it relates to any future use of the Website and/or the Digital Platform from time to time, for any reason, by posting a revised policy on the Website. You are encouraged to check this page and the data of this Policy on a regular basis.
9. Applicable law and jurisdiction
We care about your privacy and are committed to processing your personal information in accordance with Belgian and European legislation, the present Privacy Policy and the highest standards of fair information practices. Our policy for the protection of your personal data is strictly compliant with the laws applicable in Belgium. The Policy is governed by the laws of Belgium. The competent courts of the registered office of AcademicLabs shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claims arising out of it. If you have any concern relating to your privacy or any complaints, please contact us at support@academiclabs.com. We will do our best effort to contact or answer you on this as quickly as possible.
AcademicLabs
Korenmarkt 14B,
9000 Gent,
Belgium
© All Rights Reserved.