Privacy Policy

Last updated September 07, 2022

The Materials for Quantum Network is funded by UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UKRI-EPSRC) and led by Imperial College London and The University of Manchester (grant reference EP/W037912/1).

This privacy notice for Materials for Quantum Network (‘we’, ‘us’, or ‘our’,), describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (‘process’) your information when you use our services (‘Services’), such as when you:

  • Visit our website at M4QN.org, or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice
  • Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@m4qn.org.uk

1. What information do we collect?

Personal information provided by you

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

  • email address
  • profile picture (optional)
  • name
  • title (optional)
  • personal website (optional)
  • ORCiD url (optional)
  • job title or role
  • location (optional)
  • organisation name
  • organisation website (optional)
  • organisation type (optional)
  • expertise and interests (optional)
  • If you are registered as a student (optional)

We do not process sensitive information.

Information automatically collected

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies.

The information we collect includes:

Log and usage data

Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Services and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Services (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called ‘crash dumps’), and hardware settings).

Device data

We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device you use to access the Services. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.

Location data

We collect location data such as information about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Services. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Services.

2. How do we process your information?

We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:

To facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user accounts. We may process your information so you can create and log in to your account, as well as keep your account in working order.
To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may process your information to provide you with the requested service.

3. Who do we share your information with?

Vendors, consultants, and other third-party service providers

We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (‘third parties’) who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. We have contracts in place with our third parties, which are designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will also not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They also commit to protect the data they hold on our behalf and to retain it for the period we instruct. The categories of third parties we may share personal information with are as follows:

  • Data Analytics Services (Google Analytics)
  • Newsletter Services (Mailpoet)

We also may need to share your personal information in the following situations:

When we use Google Maps Platform APIs

We may share your information with certain Google Maps Platform APIs if you provide your location when signing up (e.g. Google Maps API, Places API).

4. Do we use cookies?

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information.

5. How long do we keep your information?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice. No purpose in this notice will require us to keep your personal information for longer than the period of time in which users have an account with us.

6. How do we keep your information safe?

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorised third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.

7. What are your privacy rights?

If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: https://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm

Withdrawing your consent

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section below.

Account information

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

  • Log in to your account settings and update your user account.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Cookies and similar technologies

Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at info@m4qn.org