Privacy policy

Dear CHER Member,

You’ve probably heard about the new EU data protection law - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into effect this Friday.
There won’t be any major changes. The new regulations mean that we need to let you know and understand what happens with your personal data and why, when you use our Website.
Because your data was collected with your consent, when you submitted your membership, there is no need for you to take action.

You can read your revised Privacy Policy here.
Please contact us, if you have any question.

 

Privacy policy

We respect your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy sets out details of the information that we may collect from you and how we may use that information.

 

1. About Us

1.1 In this Privacy Policy, references to “we” or “us” are to CHER - Consortium of Higher Education Researchers a foundation under Dutch law with a board of governors of seven persons. Currently, CHER counts some 160 members from more than 30 countries, from whom almost a quarter are from outside Europe, who will be the controller of any personal data processed as described in this Privacy Policy.

1.2 If you have any questions about your personal information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

2. Use of the Website and Content

This Privacy Policy applies only to your use of the Website. Other linking sites found on the Website may also gather information and you should consult those other parties’ privacy policies as appropriate and applicable.

 

3. Collection of Information

3.1 When you access the Website via any means, use the content, register, respond to or participate in any survey or questionnaire sent to you by us, make a registration through the Website, make a submission in calls we may collect, store and use certain of your personal information in line with this policy. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with the website.

3.2 To register on the Website, we ask for your name, email address, position, institution and main research interests. The information that we request aims to create a profile in order to help us to tailor the service to suit you. We may also ask you about your address, phone and fax number, in order to facilitate contact.

3.3 When you make a payment, will also collect and process your credit card or other payment details. If you contact us, we may also keep a record of that correspondence. We will only keep that information in order to process payment and only until it´s necessary to do so.

 

4. Use of Your Information

4.1 By accessing the Website via any means, registering or contacting us, you agree that your personal information may be collected, stored, used and shared by us and our partners, for any of the following purposes:

  • (a) to provide, maintain, protect and improve the quality of the Website, including by conducting anonymised market research, and to protect us and our users;
  • (b) to provide you with a personalised browsing experience when using the Website;
  • (c) to fulfil any contractual agreements between you and us;
  • (f) to manage your account that you hold with us;
  • (g) to allow you to use the full range of features on or via our Website;
  • (h) to send you specific email notifications and updates about our website, organizational issues, conferences, calls and other content you are enrolled on;
  • (i) to comply with legal and regulatory requirements;
  • (j) to contact you occasionally in order to invite you to share your opinions and experiences of CHER;

4.2 We may use your email address to send you notices and updates about our Services. You can control your email preferences by contacting us, at any time.

4.3 We will share your information with the partner institution that is hosting the CHER secretariat, only for the purposes above indicated. Since 2013, the CHER secretariat is hosted at CIPES – Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies, Porto, Portugal.

4.4. Some information may be necessary to share with the partners institutions or researchers responsible for evaluation of the submitted proposals to calls.

 

5. Storage of Information

5.1 All information is stored on our secure servers. When you register, we will ask you to choose a password which enables you to access the website. You are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share this password with anyone.

5.2 We have put in place technical and organisational security measures to prevent the loss or unauthorised access of your personal information. However, whilst we have used our best efforts to ensure the security of your data, please be aware that we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted over the Internet.

 

6. Legal Basis for Processing Your Information

6.1 Our legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described above will depend on the personal information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it.

6.2 However, we will normally collect personal information from you only (i) where we have your consent to do so, (ii) where we need the personal information to perform a contract with you, or (iii) where the processing is in our legitimate interests and not overridden by your rights. In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect personal information from you.

6.3 If we ask you to provide personal information to comply with a legal requirement or to perform a contract with you, we will make this clear at the relevant time and advise you whether the provision of your personal information is mandatory or not (as well as the possible consequences if you do not provide your information).

6.4 Similarly, if we collect and use your personal information in reliance on our legitimate interests (or those of any third party), we will make clear to you at the relevant time what those legitimate interests are.

 

7. Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties when permitted by law including:

  • (a) with your consent;
  • (b) to our suppliers in order for them to help us provide our services to you, this includes:
    • our provider of file storage and management services if you email us directly;
    • our payment services provider (as discussed above) when we process your payment;
    • providers of assessments and marking services when you sign-up for an assessment or submit a piece of work for marking.

These suppliers’ use of your personal data may be subject to their own privacy policies, which are available on their websites, and which we suggest you familiarise yourself with in the relevant circumstances set out above.

 

8. Data Retention

8.1 We retain personal information we collect from you where we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so (for example, to provide you with a service you have requested or to comply with applicable legal, tax or accounting requirements).

8.2 When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymise it or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

 

9. Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have many rights relating to information about you. The following sections explain your rights under the GDPR and how you can exercise them in the context of our website. Contact us (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) with any questions or concerns relating to your rights.

9.1. Right to data portability - Article 20 of the GDPR sets out your right to data portability – the right to have access to all your personal data in a common, machine-readable format. To access your data, please contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

9.2. Right to access - Article 15 of the GDPR sets out your right to access – the right to learn from CHER whether any of your personal data is being stored and processed.

9.3. Right to object - Article 21 of the GDPR sets out your right to object to the processing of data relating to yourself.

9.4. Right to erasure - Article 17 of the GDPR sets out your right to erasure – the right for any personal data concerning yourself to be erased. Sometimes referred to as the “right to be forgotten”, this right includes the erasure of data added to your CHER account record by you or by any of your trusted individuals and organizations.

9.5. Right to rectify - Article 16 of the GDPR sets out your right to rectification – the right to edit any inaccurate personal data about you stored with us.

You can edit any data for which you are the source directly -- data which you or a trusted individual has added -- by signing into your account. If a trusted organization added the data, you can edit the visibility of the data or delete it altogether. If needed, we can assist in contacting the organization to ask them to correct it.

9.6. You may unsubscribe from certain email communications by following the Unsubscribe link in the email communication itself. You may also update your personal information by logging into the Website. You may also email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in order to access, correct, delete or update your personal information on our systems. We will answer every email as promptly as possible.

 

10. Children

No part of the Website is directed to persons under 16 years of age. If you are under 16 years of age, then please do not use or access the Website at any time or in any manner. We will take appropriate steps to delete any personal information of persons less than 16 years of age.

 

11. Cookies

11.1 The Website uses cookies. Cookies are small files stored on your computer’s hard drive which are used to collect your personal information. You may choose to refuse cookies but, if you do so, some of the functionality of the Website may no longer be available to you.

11.2 For more information about cookies, including further details as to what they are and how to refuse them, please see our Cookies Policy.

 

13. Updating this Privacy Policy

We may update or amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, to comply with law or to meet our changing business requirements. When we update our Privacy Notice, we will take appropriate measures to inform you, consistent with the significance of the changes we make. Any updates or amendments will be posted on the Website. By continuing to access the Website and Content, your access and use will be subject to these updates and amendments.

 

14. Contats

If you have any questions, comments or complaints about this Privacy Policy, please contact us using the details below:

CHER´s Secretariat

CIPES - The Center for Research in Higher Education Policies
R 1º Dezembro 399, Matosinhos, 4450-227 Matosinhos PORTUGAL
Phone +351 229 398 790
Fax+351 229 398 799
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Data Protection Officer

Cristina Sousa Santos
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