Last updated: December 20, 2024
Project name: Glocal Ecosystems and Expanded Knowledge for green skills and capabilities in the Food sector (GEEK4Food)
Project number: 101087203
This Privacy Policy explains how GEEK4Food (“we,” “our,” or “us”) handles personal data collected from users who visit our website.
Your personal data are processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals regarding the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), and Belgian Law of 30 July 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.
If you have any questions, concerns or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or our processing of your personal data or you wish to submit a request to exercise your rights as set out in article 3, you can contact us:
Via email: geek4food.secretariat@unite.it
By post: Università degli Studi di Teramo, Campus “Aurelio Saliceti”, via R. Balzarini 1 64100 Teramo
In the event of significant changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you through our website or via email, where appropriate, prior to such changes taking effect.
1. How we use and collect your personal data
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, personal data refers to any information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person. An identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, by reference to identifiers such as a name, identification number, location data, or other factors specific to that person.
1.1 Purposes for collection and use of personal data
We collect and process your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your personal data is collected and used solely for the purposes outlined below:
- To communicate and respond to inquiries: We process your name, email address, and organisation details submitted via the “Want to Get Involved” form or similar embedded forms to address your queries, follow up on potential partnerships, or related matters.
- For event registration and participation: We process personal data, including name, email, organisation, country of residence, level of education, accessibility requirements, and dietary preferences, to facilitate your participation in events organised by us. For details on how Eventbrite handles your personal data, please refer to their privacy policy.
- For website support, analytics, and improvement:
- We collect usage data (e.g., IP address, device details, browser type, operating system, geographical location, and website activity) to:
- Ensure website security, availability, and functionality;
- Monitor website performance and health;
- Enhance user experience through aggregated analysis.
- Cookies and similar technologies are used for these purposes. You may manage preferences via browser settings or our cookie consent tool, where applicable.
- To comply with legal and regulatory obligations: We process personal data as necessary to comply with legal obligations or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
- For legitimate interests: We process personal data to pursue our legitimate interests, including ensuring website functionality and security, responding to inquiries, and improving our services, provided such interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.
1.2 Categories of personal data collected
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data
- Contact data: Name, email address, and organisation (provided directly by you when using the “Want to Get Involved” form or registering for an event).
- Event registration and participation data: Country of residence, level of education, accessibility requirements, dietary preferences, and other relevant event participation details.
- Usage data: Automatically collected data during your use of the website, including IP address, device information, browser type, operating system, geographical location, referral source, language settings, page views, and session patterns.
- Cookies and tracking technologies: Data collected through cookies and similar technologies. Aggregated and anonymised usage data, which cannot be traced back to an individual, will not be considered personal data under this policy.
1.3 Legal basis for processing
The legal basis for processing your personal data is determined by the purpose for which it is collected and used, as outlined above. In accordance with the GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:
- Consent: Processing based on your explicit consent, such as for receiving newsletters or event communications. You may withdraw your consent at any time; however, this will not affect the lawfulness of processing conducted prior to withdrawal.
- Legitimate interests: Processing necessary for our legitimate interests, such as ensuring the proper operation, security, and improvement of our website, provided such interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.
- Compliance with legal obligations: Processing necessary to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, including the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.
Your personal data will not be processed for purposes beyond those stated in this Privacy Policy unless we obtain your explicit consent or are otherwise permitted or required by law.
2. Retention of your data and deletion
You can withdraw your consent at any time, by writing an email to the following address: geek4food.secretariat@unite.it. Please note, however, that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing of your personal data carried out prior to such withdrawal.
Please note that we will retain the personal data necessary to ensure your preferences are respected in the future.
The foregoing will, however, not prevent us from retaining any personal data if this is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, in order to file a legal claim or defend ourselves against a legal claim, or for evidential purposes.
3. Your rights
This article lists your principal rights under data protection law. We have tried to summarise them for you in a clear and legible way.
To exercise any of your rights, please send us a written request in accordance with article 1 of this Privacy Policy. We will respond to your request without undue delay, but in any event within one month of the receipt of the request. In the event of an extension of the term to respond or in the event we do not take action on your request, we will notify you.
3.1 The right to access
You have the right to confirmation as to whether or not we process your personal data and, in the event we do so, you have the right to access such personal data, together with certain additional information that you also find listed in this Privacy Policy.
You have the right to receive from us a copy of your personal data we have in our possession, provided that this does not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee if you request further copies.
3.2 The right to rectification
If the personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to have this information rectified or, taking into account the purposes of the processing, completed.
3.3 The right to erasure (right to be forgotten)
In some circumstances, you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include:
- The personal data are no longer needed in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed;
- You withdraw your consent, and no other lawful ground exists;
- The processing is for direct marketing purposes;
- The personal data have been unlawfully processed; or,
- Erasure is necessary for compliance with EU law.
There are certain exclusions to the right to erasure. Those exclusions include where processing is necessary,
- for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information;
- for compliance with a legal obligation; or,
- for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
- The right to restrict processing
You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data (meaning that the personal data may only be stored by us and may only be used for limited purposes), if:
- You contest the accuracy of the personal data (and only for as long as it takes to verify that accuracy);
- The processing is unlawful and you request restriction (as opposed to exercising the right to erasure);
- We no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or,
- You have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection.
In addition to our right to store your personal data, we may still otherwise process it but only:
- with your consent;
- for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
- for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person; or,
- for reasons of important public interest.
We will inform you before we lift the restriction of processing.
3.4 The right to data portability
To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is consent, and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.
You also have the right to have your personal data transferred directly to another company, if this is technically possible, and/or to store your personal data for further personal use on a private device.
3.5 The right to object to processing
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for:
- The performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of any official authority vested in us;
- The purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party.
- If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). If you make such an objection, we will cease to process your personal data for this purpose.
3.6 The right to complain to a supervisory authority
If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. In Italy, you can submit a complaint to the Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (Garante Privacy), Piazza Venezia, 11, 00187 Roma, Italy (protocollo@gpdp.it). For other EU Member States, please refer to the official list of national data protection authorities.
Data breach notification
In the event of a personal data breach that poses a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the appropriate supervisory authority without undue delay and, where required by law, inform affected individuals promptly.
4. How we store your data
Your data is securely stored by the University of Teramo on a password-protected server in Italy. Only authorised people can access the information.
The project runs from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025. Your data will be stored for no longer than necessary for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. Specifically:
- Contact data collected via forms will be retained for the duration of the project and deleted six months after the project ends, i.e., by 30 June 2026, unless required for legal claims.
- Event participation data will be retained for two years after the event to ensure proper reporting and follow-up activities.
- Usage data (e.g., analytics) will be anonymised or deleted within 12 months of collection
Once these time periods have expired, your data will be securely deleted.
5. Responsible for the data processing and recipients of personal data
The GEEK4Food project coordinator “University of Teramo” (UNITE) is the controller for this processing operation.
Only designated University of Teramo staff directly involved in the GEEK4Food project are authorised to process personal data collected through this website. Access is limited to specific individuals who need the information to fulfil project-related tasks.
Other project partners will be able to access specific data if the purpose is specified and consent is given by users in advance.
All recipients of personal data are reminded of their obligation to use the data solely for the purposes for which it was collected. They are prohibited from using the data for any other purpose.
The personal data collected will not be shared with third parties, except as necessary for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy or as specified to users in advance.
6. Will the personal data be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area without an adequate level of data protection?
In the event that personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we ensure that such transfers are conducted in compliance with the applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); these transfers are subject to appropriate safeguards to ensure the protection of your personal data.
Depending on the circumstances, such safeguards may include:
- Adequacy decisions: Transfers to countries that have been recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection.
- Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs): Use of standard data protection clauses approved by the European Commission, which impose contractual obligations on the recipient to safeguard personal data to a level comparable to that within the EEA.
- Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs): Where data is transferred within a corporate group, we rely on Binding Corporate Rules approved by the relevant supervisory authority to ensure a consistent level of data protection.
- Derogations: In certain specific cases, as permitted under Article 49 of the GDPR, transfers may take place on the basis of explicit consent, the performance of a contract, or other legally recognised exceptions.
We carefully select service providers that are committed to GDPR compliance and have appropriate safeguards in place for international data transfers.
Our website contains links to other websites. Our Privacy Policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, please review their privacy policy.
