Privacy

The Ecological Society of Australia (ESA) maintains a database of members in order to help you network and keep you updated about news, events, and opportunities.

Some of our database (but not all) choose to join our online community by registering on this site and creating an online profile. In both instances (individuals with offline database records and individuals with online profiles), we collect and store personal information (or “data”) about you. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and this Policy sets out what information we collect about you, where and how we use (“process”) it.

We may change this Policy from time to time. Please check this page occasionally to make sure you are happy with any changes.

If you have any questions about this Policy or concerning your personal information, please contact the ESA (info@ecolsoc.org.au).

What type of personal information do we collect?

The information we have about you depends on where we collect it, but may include:

First and last name
Email
Address
Decade of birth
Higher education and work details
Professional interests
Participation in our events, emails, competitions, surveys and other activities
Donations made to the ESA
Geo-location data (your geographical location based on your IP address)
Log-ins and activity on the website
A record of payments made via the website (but we do not store your credit/ debit card details as these are processed securely externally by a third-party payment provider) which could include membership payments or online donations
Consent options and communication preferences
Content (such as announcements, photos, documents, comments, events, jobs) that you post on this site
Messages that you send to other community members via the direct messaging system when logged in to this site

Where do we collect information from?

We collect personal information when you:

Visit this website
Create or update your online profile
Post content on to this site
Send a message via the direct messaging system on this website

How do we use your information?

We’ll only use your personal information:

For the primary purpose for which it was collected; or
When permitted by the Privacy Act and its APPs; or
For direct marketing; or
With your consent.

These may include:

To process your membership application
To manage your membership and subsequent renewal
For financial record keeping
To provide the benefits of membership
To provide you with information relating to an event you have registered for
To consider and administer awards and grants
To process competition entries, such as our photography competition
To identify expertise within the membership which could be used to promote our core objectives
To keep you up to date with news about the ESA’s activities, according to your communication preferences, which may include direct marketing of our own products, services and events
To send our members relevant surveys relating to their membership or the provision of our services to them
To manage mentoring programmes
Providing you with the information or updates that you have asked for
Delivering our obligations under any contract between us
Seeking your views on the services or activities we carry out, so that we can make improvements
Updating our database records and ensuring we know how you prefer to be contacted
Where we need to comply with a legal obligation
Our legal basis for processing your information

The use of your information for the purposes set out above is lawful because one or more of the following applies:

You have given us your consent for the information to be used
It is necessary for us to hold and use your information to carry out our obligations under a contract entered into with you
It is necessary for our legitimate interests to hold and use your information and we are not impacting your privacy by doing so

Updating your consent preferences

If you have an online profile on this site you can update your consent options by logging-in and clicking on “My Settings” in your profile. Scroll down to find your ‘Consent options’ where you will see a list of consents and the options “opt-in”, “opt-out” and “unspecified”. Via ‘My Settings’ you can also choose to hide your profile from Google, limit access to your profile so that it’s only viewable to your connections and adjust some of the automatic notifications that you receive from this website. Please note that your name (but not full profile) may appear in various places around the community website, such as a ‘Recent Joiners’ box and in ‘Search’ results irrespective of the privacy settings you have selected.

If we are using consent as our legal basis for processing your data, we must have an explicit “opt-in” from you for this specific type of processing.

If we are using legitimate interests as our legal basis for processing your data, we will process your data responsibly in a way that you would reasonably expect, and you can opt-out at any stage.

If you click ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of one of our emails sent you will be automatically opted-out of these types of email communications in the future.

If you want to contact us about your consent preferences please contact the ESA via info@ecolsoc.org.au.

How we keep your information safe

We understand the importance of keeping your personal information secure and take appropriate steps to safeguard it.

Your data is stored on a dedicated, secure cloud server hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the EU and managed by our website provider, ToucanTech. Industry standard firewalls, anti-virus, encryption and back-up methods are in place, as well as strict data handling protocols.

We always ensure only authorised persons have access to your information, which means only our approved employees and contractors, and that everyone who has access is appropriately trained in data management.

If you have an online profile for this site you are responsible for keeping your login details (email and password) confidential and we ask that you do not share your password with anyone.

No data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. So, whilst we strive to safeguard your information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you provide online and you do this at your own risk.

Who has access to your information?

We will only disclose your personal information:

When permitted by the Privacy Act and its APPs; or
With your consent; or
For direct marketing; or
When legally required to do so.

Third parties who provide services for us, for example contractors, consultants, banks, accountants, lawyers or insurers. For example, we may allow technical information to be accessed by our web hosting and other technical service providers for the legitimate purpose of hosting our web servers and ensuring information security for our networks. This is done only when appropriate and on a need-to-know basis.

Third parties if we run an event in conjunction with them.

Web hosting, email hosting, analytics and search engine providers that enable us to run our community database and improve our website and its use.

Third parties in connection with restructuring or reorganisation of our operations, for example if we merge with another business. In such event, we will take steps to ensure your privacy rights will be protected by the third party.

Other than this, we will not share your information with other organisations without your consent.

Keeping your information up to date

Please let us know if your contact details change. Online members can update your details directly by logging-in to the website and clicking on ‘My Settings’ under your profile. You can also update your details by contacting us at [insert details].

Use of aggregated data

Where data can be aggregated and anonymised, our site provider (ToucanTech) might use this for research purposes without restriction. For example, they may monitor traffic patterns, site usage, response rates and data trends to help make improvement to the website software. The resulting data will not personally identify you.

How long do we keep your information for?

We will hold your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the relevant activity. Where we rely on your consent to contact you for direct email marketing/fundraising purposes, we will treat your consent as lasting only for as long as it is reasonable to do so. We may periodically ask you to renew your consent.

If you ask us to stop contacting you, we will keep a record of your contact details and limited information needed to ensure we comply with your request. If you ask us to remove your personal data from our database we will delete all the information we hold out apart from your name and the dates that you were a member of the ESA and archive your record in our database.

Your rights

You have the right to request details of how we use your personal information by making an access request in writing to info@ecolsoc.org.au.

You also have the following rights:

To request rectification of information that is inaccurate or out of date;
To erasure of your information;
To restrict the way in which we are dealing with and using your information;
To request that your information be provided to you in a format that is secure and suitable for re-use;
In relation to automated decision making and profiling.

All of these rights are subject to certain safeguards and limits or exemptions. To exercise any of these rights, you should contact the ESA via info@ecolsoc.org.au.

If an individual believes that the ESA has not complied with this policy or acted contrary to Data Protection Laws, please contact info@ecolsoc.org.au immediately.

If you feel your complaint has not been addressed satisfactorily, you can also make a referral to or lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/your-privacy-rights/data-breaches/make-a-data-breach-complaint

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This Policy was last updated in June 2024.