Privacy Policy

1. Data Controller

The Belgian Plastic Pollution Research Community ("we", "us", "our") is responsible for the processing of personal data collected through this website. For questions or requests regarding your personal data, please use the contact page.

2. What Data We Collect

When you submit a membership application, we collect the following personal data:

• Full name
• Email address
• Institution or organization
• Country of organization
• Position or role
• Research focus and interests
• Social profile links (LinkedIn, Google Scholar, ResearchGate) — optional
• Membership status (currently active or interested for future opportunities)

3. Purpose and Legal Basis

We process your personal data for the following purposes:

• To maintain a community member directory on this website
• To facilitate scientific collaboration among researchers working on plastic pollution
• To keep you informed about community activities, events, and opportunities

The legal basis for processing is your explicit consent, given at the time of application (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). Your email address is only published on the website if you have separately consented to this during the application process.

4. Data Sharing

Your personal data will not be sold or shared with third parties for commercial purposes. Approved member profiles (name, institution, role, research focus, keywords, and optionally email and social profile links) will be publicly visible on this website. Form submission data is processed by Netlify in accordance with their privacy policy.

5. Data Retention

Your personal data will be retained for as long as you remain an active member of the community. If you wish to leave the community or have your data removed from the website, please contact us and we will process your request without undue delay.

6. Your Rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the following rights:

• Right of access — you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to rectification — you may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure — you may request deletion of your personal data
• Right to restriction — you may request that we limit the processing of your data
• Right to object — you may object to the processing of your data
• Right to withdraw consent — you may withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us via the contact page. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (dataprotectionauthority.be).

7. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be published on this page with an updated date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.