Privacy Policy
Effective Date: August 5, 2026
1. Introduction
Research Girl, Inc. ("Research Girl," "we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy describes the information used by our website, courses, applications, mentorship programmes, newsletters, and donations.
2. Information We Collect
- Personal Information: We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide, such as your name, email address, phone number, academic/professional background, and any details submitted through forms for mentorship applications, event sign-ups, or blog contributions.
- Application Information: An application may include demographic information, education and research history, free-text answers, uploaded files, fee-waiver choices, and a typed or drawn signature. Forms identify the required fields before submission. For a minor, a parent or guardian may also be asked to sign.
- Account and Course Information: We keep your account details, course progress, activity attempts, completion status, and certificate-delivery history.
- Donation Information: We keep donation amount, campaign, frequency, status, donor contact details, optional comments, and Stripe transaction identifiers. Card details are entered directly with Stripe and are not stored by Research Girl.
- Website Analytics: We count public page views, referrer domains, campaign parameters, and a coarse device class without analytics cookies. A keyed daily hash is used to estimate daily unique visits, aggregated within 48 hours, and then deleted. Research Girl does not retain raw IP addresses in its application analytics.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Facilitate mentorship program matching
- Review applications, communicate decisions, and administer application fees or waivers
- Provide educational content and networking opportunities
- Save course progress and issue certificates
- Send service messages, receipts, and, when you consent, newsletters
- Operate, secure, measure, and improve the Site
- Comply with legal obligations
4. How We Share Your Information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with:
- Authorized Research Girl staff and, when needed to operate an accepted mentorship match, the relevant mentor or mentee
- Stripe for payment processing and receipts
- MailerLite for consented newsletter delivery and unsubscribe management
- Cloudflare for website security, email transport, and private object storage
- Google when you choose Google sign-in
- Legal authorities or professional advisers when required by law or necessary to protect legal rights and safety
5. Storage, Security, and International Processing
We use access controls, private-file authorization, encrypted transport, audit logs, malware scanning, and tested backups to protect information. No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.
Our service providers may process information in the United States, Canada, the European Union, or other locations where they and their subprocessors operate, subject to their contracts and applicable law.
6. Retention
Unsubmitted form drafts are deleted after 30 days of inactivity or when the application cycle closes. Unless a form states a longer period, application answers, uploads, and signatures are retained for at least seven years after that cycle closes; after deletion, only approved non-identifying aggregate counts remain. Account and course records are kept while needed to provide the service. Donation, payment, and accounting records are retained for at least seven years and longer when required by the organization's accounting or legal obligations.
7. Newsletter Choices
Newsletter consent is kept separately from ordinary contact records. You can unsubscribe using the link in any MailerLite campaign. Unsubscribing does not prevent necessary service emails about an application, account, donation, or course.
8. Your Rights
Depending on your location, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, object to, or receive a copy of your personal information, and to withdraw consent where consent is the basis for processing. To make a request, contact us at hello@researchgirl.org. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
9. Children and Minors
The Site is not directed to children under 13. Programmes open to minors use age-appropriate forms and may require a parent or guardian acknowledgement. If you believe a child under 13 submitted personal information, contact us so we can review and delete it where appropriate.
10. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this policy periodically. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.
11. Contact Us
For any questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us at hello@researchgirl.org.