This website, www.BELSconnector.org, is operated by British Educated Life Scientists/BELS (“we”/”us”). By using and visiting our website and using our service you agree to this privacy policy. We respect the privacy of visitors to our site and recognise that when you choose to provide us with information about yourself, you trust us to act in a responsible manner. That’s why we have put a policy in place to protect your personal information. Please read on for more details about our privacy practices.
What information do we collect? How do we use it?
At times we may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information. Generally this information is requested when you register a membership account with us. We may gather and use information about you in the following ways:
We will use your personal details and information we obtain from other sources to ensure that the content and services that we offer are tailored to your needs and interests. We may keep your information for a reasonable period for these purposes. We may need to share your information with our service providers and agents for these purposes. For these purposes we may collect the following data: Your name, e-mail address, password (encrypted), company name, industry type, telephone number, physical address, and IP address.
We intend to continue improving the content and function of our website. For this reason, we may monitor customer traffic patterns and site usage to help us improve the design and layout of our site and provide content of interest to you.
By providing us with your personal information you consent to our processing your personal data for the above purposes. You also consent to our transferring your information to countries or jurisdictions which do not provide the same level of data protection as the UK, if necessary, for the above purposes. If we do make such a transfer, we will, if appropriate, put a contract in place to ensure your information is protected.
We will not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others.
Use of cookies
By using this site, you indicate that you consent to BELS Cookie Policy (see below)
How do we protect your information?
We take appropriate measures to ensure that the information disclosed to us is kept secure, accurate and up to date and kept only for so long as is necessary for the purposes for which it is used.
Other information
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions from this policy at any time so you are encouraged to review this policy from time to time. We will, of course, notify you of any changes where we are required to do so.
You are entitled to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you (for which we may charge a small fee) and to have any inaccuracies in your information corrected.
For quality control and training purposes, we may monitor or record your communications with us.
When and how to contact us
If your personal details change, or if you have any queries about how we use your information, or if you have any feedback about our privacy practices, please let us know by contacting Nigel Gaymond, BELS Executive Chairman: ngaymond@BELSconnector.org
BELS Cookie Policy
1. What are cookies?
A “cookie” is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard drive and which records your navigation of a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options to you based upon the stored information about your last visit. You can normally alter the settings of your browser to prevent acceptance of cookies.
Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system.
2. How do we use cookies?
We use “cookies” to monitor site user traffic patterns and site usage. This helps us to understand how our users use our websites so that we can develop and improve the design, layout and functionality of the sites.
There are different kinds of cookies with different functions:
Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session. They are automatically deleted when the browser is closed. They usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page. They do not collect any information from your computer.
Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is one stored as a file on your computer, and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. We do not use persistent cookies other than for Google Analytics (please see section 7 on Google Analytics).
We never use third-party or unsatisfactory cookies on our site, although we do use Google Analytics (please see section 7 on Google Analytics).
The cookies we use are explained below:
3. Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential to enable you to use the site effectively and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our site cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
4. Performance cookies
These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our site. For example they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular. We use Google analytics for this purpose (see section 7) and all information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore remains anonymous. These cookies do not collect information that identifies a visitor, as all information these cookies collect is anonymous and is only used to improve how our site works.
5. Functionality cookies
These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced features. For instance, a website may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the policies you buy. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, font and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised. They do not gather any information about you that could be used for advertising or remember where you have been on the internet.
6. How to reject cookies
Note that most web browsers will accept cookies, but if you would rather that we did not collect data in this way you can choose to accept all or some or reject cookies in your browser’s privacy settings. Rejecting all cookies means that certain features cannot then be provided to you and accordingly you may not be able to take full advantage of all our website’s features. Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.
For more information generally on cookies, including how to disable them, please refer to aboutcookies.org (http://www.allaboutcookies.org/). You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer.
7. Google Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Google uses the __utma cookie. This is a persistent cookie that expires in two years. With each new visit, the expiration date is refreshed. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.