Legal

Privacy Policy

In summary: registrant contact information is NOT shared with third parties without your consent. Registrant information is primarily used to verify registration and notify you of similar events held by Proud Pen in the future. We may share your contact information with sponsors but only with your consent upon registering.

1. Who we are

This Privacy Policy explains how Proud Pen ("we", "us", "our") processes personal data in connection with the International Conference on Higher Education (the "Event"), including this website, its submission, registration, request and feedback forms, support channels, email communications, photography and video from the Event, and its online sessions.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:[email protected]

This policy applies to authors and co-authors, presenters, listeners, virtual participants, booking contacts, Scientific Committee members and applicants, sponsors' and partners' contacts, and website visitors.

2. Data we collect

We collect information you provide directly to us. For example, we collect information when you register for an event, fill out a form or otherwise communicate with us. The types of information we may collect include your email address, mail address and other contact or identifying information in order to register for our events.

Submissions: abstract, optional full-paper file, paper title and keywords, presentation type, author and co-author names, institutions and emails, corresponding-author phone number, the AI-use declaration where given and the version of the author policy displayed. Update requests: original submission ID, request reason, revised files, change summary, response to reviewers, any revised AI-use declaration and the outcome recorded by our team.
Registration: the attendee's name, institution, email, phone, address and country, participation type and tier; where different, the booking contact's name, email, phone and relationship to the attendee; additional attendees' names, institutions and emails; article titles for presenters.
Phone numbers and SMS: phone numbers from the forms, plus SMS consent where given.
Invitation letters: only where requested — name as shown in the passport, nationality, date of birth, passport number and expiry date, and the registration email and order reference.
Pro forma invoice requests: contact name and email, institution or company billing name and address, optional VAT or company number, attendee names and categories, quantities, instructions, the request reference and the issued invoice record.
Payments: card and PayPal credentials are handled by PayPal and are never stored by us. HigherEduConf does not directly collect sensitive information such as credit card details or Social Security numbers. We retain payment and order records: amount, currency, status, transaction reference, invoice or receipt, and payment matching. Bank-transfer receipts uploaded to the form are retained for verification.
Feedback: peer-review evaluation and conference feedback — name, paper title (review feedback), optional email, ratings, participation and source answers, comments, and the fixed conference reference.
Committee applications and enquiries: the details entered in the committee application, contact and partnership forms.
Website and technical data: device, browser and IP-address data collected through cookies and similar technologies, and the technical fields captured with each form (conference and edition, source, campaign and keyword, landing page and referrer, and country derived from IP address as a fallback).
Publications and programme: if your work is accepted, your name, affiliation and submission details appear in the programme, the Abstract Book, the proceedings, this website and post-event archives.
Photos, video and recordings: we photograph and record the Event, including online sessions; your image and voice may appear in these materials.

3. Why we use your data

To operate the Event: administer submissions and peer review, verify registrations, issue confirmations, invoices, receipts, badges and certificates for each attendee, and run the online sessions.
To match and process update requests, prepare requested pro forma invoices and match institutional payments.
To issue invitation letters to registered and paid participants.
To send result, deadline and programme notifications by email and, with consent, by SMS.
To publish accepted work in the programme, the Abstract Book and the proceedings, together with any applicable AI-use declaration.
To send technical notices, updates, security alerts and support and administrative messages.
To respond to your comments, questions and requests and provide customer service.
To market our Services: information about participants can be used for marketing forthcoming Events. We may use your image, your submitted feedback form, and testimonial content or video in our marketing materials. We also use photos, audio-visual footage from the venue, and recordings of online sessions which may include your image or voice.
To assess and improve the review process and the conference experience through the feedback forms.
To comply with legal obligations (tax, accounting, safety) and protect our rights.

Legal bases: contract (registration, payment, submissions and participation); legitimate interests (event operations and security, service improvement, limited marketing of similar events to existing participants, reasonable use of Event photos and video); consent (SMS, newsletter, certain cookies, and any special-category data such as dietary or accessibility needs you choose to give us); legal obligations.

Promotional communications

We will periodically send you free newsletters and e-mails that directly promote our conferences, events and gatherings. When you receive newsletters or promotional communications from us, you may indicate a preference to stop receiving further communications from us — you will have the opportunity to "opt-out" by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the e-mail you receive. Despite your indicated e-mail preferences, we may send you notices of any updates to our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy.

4. Sharing

We do not sell your personal data.

Payment processors: PayPal for card and PayPal-account payments; our bank for transfers. See PayPal's privacy notice for its own processing.
Service providers: trusted vendors for hosting, email and SMS, forms, marketing automation, similarity screening (Crossref Similarity Check powered by iThenticate), online sessions, analytics and security, processing data on our behalf under contracts that protect it and prohibit use for their own purposes.
Publication outputs: author names, affiliations, titles and, where applicable, AI-use declarations appear in the programme, the Abstract Book, the proceedings and related archives. → Generative AI Author Policy for the author-use rules.
Sponsors and partners: we do not share or sell your information to vendors or third parties. However, for certain events you register for, we do ask for your consent to share your contact information with sponsors who may wish to contact you regarding special promotions or discounts. Upon registering you will have the ability to opt out of such communications, and you can also opt out later by following the unsubscribe instructions provided in the e-mail you receive.
Passport data is used only to produce the invitation letter and is never sent by SMS.
Legal and safety: we may disclose information if required by law or to protect rights, safety and security.
Aggregated data: we may share non-identifiable statistics, such as participants by country or discipline.

Some providers are located outside the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area. Where data is transferred, we use lawful safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent. By accessing and using the Services, you consent to the processing and transfer of your information in and to the United States and other countries.

5. Retention

Retention periods
Data	Retention
Financial, invoice and tax records	Up to 10 years, as required by law
Registration, order and support records	2–3 years after the Event or last interaction
Submissions, update requests, review records and AI-use declarations with their policy version	Retained with the Event's editorial record for as long as the related publication is maintained
Passport data for invitation letters	Stored encrypted; deleted `[conf_passport_retention_days]` days after the Event
Pro forma invoice requests	With the related financial records
Marketing contacts	Up to 3 years after your last interaction, or until you unsubscribe
Feedback responses	2–3 years after the Event
Publications (programme, Abstract Book, proceedings)	Long-term, as part of the scientific record
Photos and video	For documentation and promotion, unless you object and removal is feasible

6. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you may access, correct, delete, restrict or port your data, object to processing including direct marketing, and withdraw consent where processing relies on it. To exercise your rights, contact [email protected]. You may also complain to your data protection authority.

7. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, analyse performance and, where you consent, personalise content and measure marketing.

Strictly necessary— required for core functions such as keeping forms and sessions working; cannot be switched off.
Performance and analytics— help us understand how visitors use the website (for example Google Analytics); data is aggregated.
Functionality— remember your preferences.
Advertising and targeting— with your consent, our partners (for example Google, Meta, LinkedIn) and we may use cookies and pixels to deliver relevant ads and measure campaigns.

When you first visit, a banner lets you manage your cookie preferences; you can change them at any time through the banner link in the footer or your browser settings. Blocking cookies may affect how the website works.

As you browse HigherEduConf websites, online ad networks we work with may place anonymous cookies on your computer, and use similar technologies, in order to understand your interests based on your (anonymous) online activities, and thus to tailor more relevant ads to you. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This will not prevent you from seeing ads; the ads simply will not be delivered through these targeting methods.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy. If changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify you.