Privacy Statement

The website, iapss.org, hereinafter “the website,” is provided by the International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS), hereinafter “us” or “we”. 

For further information regarding the provider of the website, please refer to the details about our company. (provide link to contact us/Impressum/ info on our association)

By agreeing to this privacy statement, you consent to the ways in which we and our affiliated third parties may access your personal data and use it to fulfill and optimize your privileges as a user of our digital services. It also outlines the steps we take to ensure your information is protected.

Handling of Personal Data

Data privacy is important for us and is regarded in all the services that we provide. This Privacy Notice contains an explanation about the collected data and the processing of these. This document applies to the website and any service that is provided on it as well as all of our social media accounts and profiles.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Notice carefully and contact us at dataprotection@iapss.org if any questions or unclarities arise. 

1. Website Provider

Our website is not hosted by us directly. We rely on an external hosting company, Digital Ocean Inc., located at 1101 Avenue of the Americas, 10th Floor, New York, United States. Digital Ocean facilitates the basis of our website and stores much of the data that we process.

Digital Ocean is certified by the U.S. Department of Commerce under the EU-US Privacy Shield. This ensures adequate protection for storing and processing the data by Digital Ocean in the US. Further Digital Ocean is certified with SOC2, a certificate for data protection and system security management. 

Further information can be found in the Digital Ocean Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and the GDPR Policy.

2. Website Analysis

To analyze our website’s statistical data,  we use Google Analytics, a service provided by Google LLC (“Google”), located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States.

Google will analyse your use of the website on our behalf. For this purpose Google is using Cookies, more described in our Cookie Policy (Section 6 of this document). The data collected by Google through cookies as well as data in connection with your use of our website (e.g. the referring website, your language settings, your gadget type, your operating system) will be transmitted to a Google server. Google will store and analyse the data. The results are transferred back to us in an anonymized form. The IP address is anonymized during this process. 

Google is certified by the U.S. Department of Commerce under the EU-US Privacy Shield. This ensures that data is adequately protected while being processed by Google in the US. Furthermore, Google is certified under ISO 27001. This governs the information security of Google’s data processing systems.

You may revoke your consent via our GDPR consent plugin by clicking on the box in the bottom right corner of our website that says “Privacy & Cookies Policy” and following the instructions that appear to customize Cookie Settings. 

Further information on Google Analytics is available in the Google Analytics Terms of Service, Data Protection Guidelines of Google Analytics and in the Google Privacy Policy.

3. Purchase of products

In order to purchase a product or membership with us you may provide us with the following data. If you apply on our website for an individual membership we collect data from you to ensure the execution of your request. The processing is based on Article 6, Section (1) b of the GDPR.

You may provide us with the following data:

• Country of residence
• Whether you want a membership in the International Political Science Association (please refer below)

If you have enabled the joint membership option with the International Political Science Association (IPSA), you may additionally provide us with the following data:

• Name
• E-Mail address
• Date of birth
• Membership plan
• Publication selection
• Address

The data will be exclusively used for processing IPSA membership. The data will be deleted in accordance with our Data Retention Policy (Section 7 of this document). To create your joint membership with IPSA, we will have to send the above information to IPSA for processing, whereupon it will be subject to the terms and conditions of the IPSA Privacy Statement. IPSA is incorporated in Montreal, Canada, a country prohibited to send data under Article 44 of the GDPR. Based on Article 45 of the GDPR the EU Commission can make an adequacy decision to allow referrals if adequate protection is ensured. Canada is included on this list, which can we checked here.

In the event that you sign up for an IAPSS membership through the IPSA website, the data you submit as outlined in this section of our privacy statement will also be subject to the terms and conditions of the IPSA Privacy Statement.

By becoming an IAPSS member, you will gain a personal account through which to access the site and members’ only services and activities. We are able to access your account information to resolve technical issues, conduct maintenance, and improve our website’s operations.

You can purchase our services through the webshop on our website. The processing of your personal data is based on Art. 6 (1) b of the GDPR.

You may provide us with the following data:

• Name
• Company and/or institution name
• Address
• Phone number
• E-Mail address
• Payment details
• IP address

For the checkout and payment process we use the service provided by Stripe located at 510 Townsend Street San Francisco, United States. Stripe may use the above stated data to execute the assigned task. The data will be deleted in accordance with the Stripe Data Retention Policy.

Further information on Stripe can be found in the Stripe Privacy Statement and the Services Agreement.

Purchasing data is stored in our secure only bookkeeping system by Xero. Xero’s privacy statement can be found here.

Purchasing data is transferred to Xero by the OneSaas. OneSaas’ privacy statement can be found here. 

Since Digital Ocean is our website host, it also has access to purchasing data. Further information can be found in the Digital Ocean Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and the GDPR Policy.

4. Apply for position, submit an article, apply for event

If you apply on our website for open positions within our organisations or use our services that involve submitting information, including but not limited to publications, applications for positions, and events, we process your personal data. The processing is based on Article 6, Section (1) b of the GDPR.

You may provide us with the following data:

• Name, surname and title
• E-Mail address
• Phone number
• Skype ID
• Information on how you found out about the position or service
• Curriculum Vitae
• Letter of Motivation
• Letter of Reference
• Your educational stage
• Writing sample
• other certificates

The data will be exclusively used for processing the specific request. The data will be deleted in accordance with our Data Retention Policy (Section 7 of this document). 

5. Cookie Policy

The IAPSS website uses cookies. By using our website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to IAPSS’ use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy.

Cookies are files sent by web servers to web browsers, and stored by the web browsers. 

The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.  This enables a web server to identify and track web browsers. 

There are two main kinds of cookies: session cookies and persistent cookies.  Session cookies are deleted from your computer when you close your browser, whereas persistent cookies remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach their expiry date.

IAPSS uses cookies on its websites for the following purposes:

• Website personalization;
• Enabling access to and use of website services;
• Supplying services that involve purchases;
• Other such uses.

IAPSS uses Google Analytics to analyze the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store and use this information.  More information can be found in Google’s Privacy Policy.

IAPSS also uses the following Google features which may use cookies:

• Google Fonts API;
• Google Maps;
• Google Forms;
• Google Hosted Libraries;
• etc.

These services are also governed by Google’s Privacy Policy.

When you use our website, you may also be sent other third party cookies, which may be used for the following purposes:

Social media features, such as the Facebook Like button, and social media widgets. These features may collect information about you, the link you used to access our website, and the page(s) you visit, and they may set cookies. Your interactions with these features and the information from or about you collected by them are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide them.

Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies.  

In Google Chrome, you may change your cookie settings by clicking at the top right “More Settings”, “Advanced”, Under “Privacy and security,” click Content settings, “Cookies”. Then “Turn Allow sites to save and read cookie data on or off”.  

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can refuse all cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Privacy”, and selecting “Block all cookies” using the sliding selector.

In Microsoft Edge, you can refuse all cookies by clicking “Settings”, “View Advanced Settings” and selecting “Block all cookies” in the “Cookies” menu.

In Mozilla Firefox, you can adjust your cookies settings by clicking “Tools”, “Options” and “Privacy”.

Blocking cookies will likely have a negative impact upon website usability.

6. Data Retention Policy

Records will be retained to provide information about, and evidence of IAPSS’ transactions, memberships, customers, employment, and activities. Data will be reviewed regularly to ensure retention periods are enforced. 

Where it is not possible to define a statutory or legal retention period, as per the GDPR requirement, we will identify the criteria by which the period can be determined and provide this to you upon request and as part of our standard data protection processes. These processes also ensure that records pending audit, litigation or investigation are not destroyed or altered.

Membership information (see Section 3 of this document) is retained for the length of the membership purchased plus 2 years. It is retained to ensure fulfilment of membership privileges and to allow a reasonable period for membership renewal. It can be accessed by IAPSS website administrators.

Applications and/or submissions for IAPSS positions, events, and publications are retained for 1 year to ensure a fair selection process and to confirm applicant submission and/or participation.

Some information, including aggregated survey responses, correspondence between IAPSS and external parties, and online voting outcomes are retained perpetually to ensure long-term organizational improvement and democratic transparency. 

7. Log Data

The IAPSS website keeps a log of activity it receives and tracks the following information:

• Pages visited and time spent on pages;
• Bounce rates;
• Internet protocol (IP) Addresses;
• Referral links and/or websites through which the IAPSS website was accessed;

This data is collected to optimize website performance and fulfillment of member privileges.

8. Changes to This Privacy Notice

Changes to this data privacy notice can be made at any time by us and will be included on this page of our website. Furthermore, you have the following rights as a data subject:

1. The right to be informed – this means we must inform you about how we are going to use your personal data. We do this through this privacy policy and by informing you how your data will be used each time we collect it.

2. The right of access – you have the right to access your personal data. This is called a subject access request. We must respond to your request within one month. To request access to your data, log in into your IAPSS account and follow the instructions on the dashboard or email dataprotection@iapss.org. 

3. The right to rectification – if you think there is an inaccuracy in the your personal data that we have, you can let us know so we can correct it. You can do this by emailing dataprotection@iapss.org. 

4. The right to erasure – you have the right to request that we delete your data. We will do so, provided that we do not have a compelling (e. g. legal) reason for keeping it. To request this, log in into your IAPSS account and follow the instructions on the dashboard or email dataprotection@iapss.org. 

5. The right to restrict processing – you can restrict your communication preferences (how we communicate with you) by logging into your IAPSS account and following the instructions on the dashboard or emailing dataprotection@iapss.org. There are also certain circumstances in which you can restrict the processing of your personal data. To request this, please email dataprotection@iapss.org.

6. The right to data portability – you can obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across difference services. To request this, log in into your IAPSS account and follow the instructions on the dashboard or email dataprotection@iapss.org. 

7. The right to object – you can object to:

a) direct marketing from us or any third parties we have shared your data with. You can request to opt out of this by emailing dataprotection@iapss.org.

b) Any processing where our lawful basis is legitimate interest. You can request to opt out of this by emailing dataprotection@iapss.org. 

8. Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling – we do not conduct automated decision-making and profiling. If that ever changes, this policy will be updated accordingly.