Privacy Policy, Data Rights & Scholar Trust

When you create an account, browse events, or submit academic conferences on AcademicAlerts.org, we collect:

• Account Credentials: Full name, institutional email address, password hash, and profile picture.
• Professional Credentials: Research field, academic designation, department, and university affiliation.
• Event Submissions & CFPs: Conference titles, dates, descriptions, brochure uploads, and organizer contact details.
• Interaction Data: Saved events, search preferences, newsletter alerts subscriptions, and workspace activity.

We use collected information solely for legitimate educational and platform operations, including:

• Delivering personalized conference recommendations and email notifications for your selected research disciplines.
• Verifying academic credentials and preventing fraudulent conference submissions.
• Enabling event bookmarking, calendar integration, and event organizer workspaces.
• Maintaining platform security, authenticating sessions, and diagnosing server health.

In compliance with the ePrivacy Directive and GDPR (Article 6 & 7), AcademicAlerts.org categorizes browser storage and cookies as follows:

• Strictly Necessary Storage (Always Active): Secure HTTP-only cookies storing authenticated JWT sessions (strapi_jwt) and your cookie preferences decision (aa_cookie_consent_v1). These are required for secure operation and cannot be switched off.
• Preferences: Local browser storage for dark/light display mode and guest bookmarks.
• Analytics & Performance (Opt-In Only): Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics telemetry with IP anonymization to evaluate platform load times and directory navigation. These trackers are completely disabled until you provide explicit, affirmative opt-in consent via our Cookie Consent Banner.

You can review, modify, or revoke your cookie choices at any time by clicking the "Cookie Preferences" button located in the footer of any page.

Under the Indian Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and equivalent global privacy frameworks, you have guaranteed rights:

• Right of Access & Portability (GDPR Art. 15 & 20): Export and download a machine-readable JSON archive of all personal records, conference submissions, ticket orders, and notification history via your Dashboard Settings.
• Right to Rectification (GDPR Art. 16): Review and modify your affiliation, research discipline, and contact details directly in your scholar profile.
• Right to Erasure / "Right to be Forgotten" (GDPR Art. 17): Permanently close your account from Dashboard Settings. Account closure immediately scrubs personal credentials, anonymizes ticket registrations, and removes profile listings.
• Right to Object & Withdraw Consent (GDPR Art. 7(3) & 21): Easily toggle discipline alert subscriptions or unsubscribe from email notifications at any time.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint (GDPR Art. 77): EU/EEA residents have the right to submit a complaint to their local European Data Protection Authority (DPA).

For questions regarding data privacy, security compliance, or grievance redressal, please reach out to our dedicated privacy desk: