Privacy Notice

Gaza Connect is the research collaboration portal of the Emergency Committee of Universities in Gaza. Its international work is coordinated by Friends of Palestinian Universities (FPU), a UK-based initiative. FPU is the data controller for personal information processed through the portal, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply.

This notice covers the portal (Gaza Connect accounts, profiles, opportunities, and applications). It does not cover other websites that the portal links to.

We collect only the information needed to run the portal and match academics with collaboration opportunities.

Gaza academics:

• Before you join: your name, email address, and department, provided by your university moderator so we can send you an invitation. No profile is created until you accept the invitation yourself.
• Profile details you enter: name, university, department and academic field, position, title, degree, and academic rank, a short biography, research projects and interests, and links such as Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchGate, or LinkedIn.
• Optional files you upload: a profile photo, a cover image, and your CV.

International academics and institutions:

• Registration details: name or primary contact, email address, country, institution or organisation, department, position, a short biography, your reason for joining, and a profile or website link.
• Optional files and links you add: a profile photo, a cover image, and academic profile links.

All users:

• Activity in the portal: opportunities you post, save, or apply to, application messages and files, and requests to view profile resources.
• Account and service records: sign-in details (your password is stored only in encrypted form), notification preferences, emails we send you, and security and audit logs.

We do not ask for sensitive information such as health data, religious or political beliefs, or government ID numbers. Please do not include it in your profile or uploads.

• To show your profile to other registered portal members and match you with opportunities. Lawful basis: your consent, which you give when you create your account.
• To send invitations, review and approve accounts, run the portal, send service emails, and keep the portal secure. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in running a safe, moderated collaboration service.
• To keep records we are legally required to keep. Lawful basis: legal obligation.

We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for advertising.

• Your profile is never public. Only registered portal members whose accounts have been approved can see approved profiles.
• Your email address is shown on your profile only if you choose to show it in your settings.
• Your university moderator can see and review the profiles of academics from their university.
• The Gaza Connect admin team can see all accounts so they can approve, support, and protect users.
• Your CV and application files are stored privately and shared only in line with your visibility settings, or with the partner you apply to.
• Profile photos and cover images are stored at hard-to-guess web addresses so they can load quickly. Anyone who has the exact address of an image could open it.

We use trusted providers to run the portal. They process information only on our instructions and under data processing agreements:

• Supabase: database, sign-in, and file storage (hosted in the EU, Ireland).
• Vercel: hosting of the website and portal.
• Resend: delivery of portal emails.

Some of these providers may process information outside the UK. Where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or approved safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

We keep your account and profile while your account is active. If you ask us to delete your account, we delete your profile, files, and account details, except records we must keep for legal or security reasons, which we keep for no longer than necessary.

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• access the personal information we hold about you;
• correct information that is wrong or incomplete (you can edit most of it in your portal settings);
• ask us to delete your information;
• restrict or object to how we use it;
• receive your information in a portable format;
• withdraw your consent at any time. Your profile will then be hidden from other members, and your account closed if you ask. This does not affect anything done before you withdrew.

To use any of these rights, email us at the address below. We will reply within one month.

info@gazauniversities.org

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Access to data is controlled by role-based permissions enforced in the database. Connections are encrypted, passwords are never stored in readable form, private files are only available through short-lived links, and admin actions are logged.

If we change this notice in a way that affects you, we will update the date above and let registered users know through the portal or by email.