Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

United Italian Societies Ltd ("UIS", "United Italian Societies", "we", "us" or "our") is a private company limited by guarantee without share capital incorporated in England and Wales.

• Company number: 13786602
• Registered office: 38 Craven Street, London, England, WC2N 5NG, United Kingdom

UIS is the data controller for the central UIS Platform and for personal information where UIS determines how and why that information is processed in connection with its global activities.

Where a university Italian Society, partner organisation, employer, university, research organisation or other organisation independently determines how it uses personal information, that organisation may act as a separate controller and its own privacy notice will apply. Where UIS and another organisation jointly determine the purposes and means of processing, we will make the relevant allocation of responsibilities available where required.

2. Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Policy applies to personal information processed through or in connection with the UIS website, UIS Platform and Network, UIS chapters, Italian Symposium and other events, mentoring programmes, tutoring programmes, Job Board and career opportunities, Research Centre activities, fellowships and scholarships, volunteer and leadership recruitment, newsletters and communications, institutional and corporate partnerships, surveys, community initiatives and other UIS programmes.

Programme-specific notices may supplement this Policy where a particular activity requires additional information, especially where minors, research participants, special-category information or programme-specific partners are involved.

If a programme-specific notice conflicts with this general Policy in relation to that programme, the more specific notice will apply.

3. Personal information we may collect

Depending on how you interact with UIS, we may process identification and contact information such as your name, email addresses, telephone number, profile photograph and account identifiers.

We may process education information such as your university, degree, field of study, academic dates and graduation year; professional information such as your employer, industry, role, work history and professional profiles; and UIS-related information such as current or previous UIS roles, chapter, Italian Society affiliation, programme participation and Network membership.

If you create a UIS Platform account, we may process account and authentication information, account status, verified email addresses, profile preferences, privacy settings, membership status, and records necessary to protect the security and integrity of your account.

For events, we may process registration details, attendance, ticketing information where applicable, event preferences, accessibility information that you choose to provide, and records of participation.

For mentoring and tutoring, we may process information about interests, experience, educational background, objectives, availability and preferences needed to make and manage appropriate matches.

For UIS volunteer or leadership applications, we may process application forms, CVs, contact information, interview notes, responses to application questions, availability and assessment information.

For the Job Board and career opportunities, we may process professional profiles, CVs, application information and the information you choose to submit when applying for a specific opportunity.

For research activities, we may process information necessary for participation in research projects, surveys or publications. Where a research project involves additional categories of information, we will provide an appropriate research-specific notice.

We may also process communications with UIS, support requests, survey responses, preferences and feedback; technical information such as IP address, browser/device information, login records and security logs; and information about how you interact with our websites and services.

We do not require users to provide personal information that is unnecessary for the relevant UIS activity.

4. Where personal information comes from

Most information is provided directly by you when you create an account, register for an event, join a programme, apply for a role or opportunity, contact us, participate in UIS activities or update your profile.

We may also receive personal information from Italian Societies and UIS chapters, event-registration providers, universities and programme partners where appropriate, employers or organisations to which you choose to apply, referees where relevant, and public professional sources such as LinkedIn where use of that information is appropriate and lawful.

UIS also holds historical event-registration information collected through legacy platforms such as Gomry.

Historical participation in a UIS event or inclusion in a legacy database does not automatically make a person a current UIS Network member, does not make their profile discoverable, and does not constitute consent to marketing or inclusion in a public/member directory.

Where UIS repurposes personal information obtained from another source, we will provide appropriate privacy information as required by law.

5. Why we use personal information and our legal bases

UIS only processes personal information where we have an appropriate purpose and legal basis.

When we rely on legitimate interests, we assess whether the processing is necessary and whether our interests are overridden by your rights and interests.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal.

6. UIS Network and directory

The UIS Network is designed to connect eligible members while preserving control over visibility.

Joining the UIS Network does not automatically make you discoverable to other members.

Directory discoverability is optional and is disabled by default. You must affirmatively enable it before your profile can become eligible for member discovery.

We may also apply eligibility conditions such as active membership, active account status and age requirements.

Private contact details, authentication information, raw imported data, privacy-request information and internal administrative records are not intended to form part of the member directory.

You may disable directory discoverability at any time.

7. Historical UIS and event data

UIS may retain historical records of event registrations, programme involvement, UIS roles, Italian Society roles and other legitimate organisational history.

Legacy information may be imported into restricted systems for reconciliation, security, record integrity and, where lawful, helping a person claim their own historical UIS identity.

• We will not use an old membership label to create current Network membership automatically.
• We will not treat historical event registration as marketing consent.
• We will not make legacy contact information publicly or member-searchable merely because UIS previously held it.
• Ambiguous identity matches should be reviewed rather than automatically merged.

8. Mentoring

For mentoring programmes we may use relevant education, professional, interest, career and preference information to identify potentially appropriate mentor–mentee matches.

Matches may be assisted by software, including ranking or recommendation tools, but UIS does not intend to make decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects about individuals solely through automated processing.

Human programme administrators may review matches and programme decisions.

Mentors and mentees will receive only information reasonably necessary to participate in the programme.

9. Job Board and career opportunities

UIS may display or communicate career opportunities provided by employers and partners.

We do not give employers general access to the UIS member database.

If you choose to apply for an opportunity, we may transmit the application information you submitted to the relevant employer or recruitment partner.

Once an employer receives your application, that employer may become an independent controller of that information and its own privacy policy will apply.

Participation in a UIS event or Network membership does not constitute permission for UIS to send your full profile to employers.

10. Events, photographs, recordings and livestreams

UIS events may involve photography, audio/video recording, livestreaming or media coverage.

Where this occurs, we will provide reasonable notice through event registration materials, signage or other appropriate means.

We may rely on legitimate interests for proportionate documentation of UIS events, including general audience and atmosphere photography, taking account of reasonable expectations.

Where individuals are specifically featured in promotional content, testimonials or similar materials, we may request additional permission where appropriate.

If you have a concern about being photographed or recorded, contact the event team or privacy contact.

We apply heightened safeguards where minors are involved.

11. Research and anonymised insights

UIS may use information to understand its community, measure programme outcomes and produce research about topics such as education, careers, international mobility and the Italian community abroad.

Whenever reasonably possible, published statistics and research will use aggregated or anonymised information that does not identify individuals.

UIS will not deliberately re-identify information that has been properly anonymised.

Research involving identifiable participants, sensitive information or additional risks may be governed by a separate participant information notice and consent process.

12. Special-category information

UIS generally does not need special-category information such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade-union membership, genetic or biometric data used for identification, health information, or information about sexual orientation or sex life.

We ask that users do not include such information in free-text fields unless relevant and specifically requested.

Where UIS genuinely needs special-category information, we will identify an appropriate legal condition and provide additional information where required.

We do not infer a person's political opinions merely because they attend a UIS event involving politicians, public-policy speakers or political debate.

13. Children and young people

The UIS Network member directory and its ordinary member-discovery functionality are intended for people aged 18 or over.

UIS also runs activities, including tutoring, that may involve high-school students under 18.

Children's information is subject to heightened protection. Where UIS processes information about minors, we will minimise the information collected, use high-privacy defaults, restrict access, avoid inclusion in the ordinary UIS member directory, avoid targeted advertising and the sale of children's information, and obtain parental or guardian involvement where required.

A separate Tutoring and Young People Privacy Notice should apply to the UIS Tutoring Program.

We do not knowingly permit children under 13 to create ordinary UIS Platform accounts. If a US-based programme knowingly collects personal information from a child under 13, UIS will implement the parental-consent and other safeguards required by applicable law before that processing occurs.

14. AI and automated tools

UIS uses or may use AI-enabled and automated tools to support administrative work, summaries, programme operations, matching, drafting, analytics and volunteer workflows.

We do not intend to make solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.

Where AI assists recruitment, programme selection, matching or another material decision, meaningful human involvement should remain in the decision-making process.

UIS will not intentionally submit confidential member data to public AI services for unrestricted model training.

Where third-party AI providers process personal information on UIS's behalf, they must be assessed and governed as service providers/processors in accordance with our privacy and security requirements.

15. Who we share personal information with

We may share personal information with service providers that help us operate our websites, applications, databases, authentication systems, communications, event registrations, newsletters, analytics, email, productivity systems and security.

These may include providers such as Supabase for database and authentication infrastructure, Vercel for application hosting, approved transactional-email providers, Mailchimp for newsletters, and event platforms such as Gomry or successor services where used.

We may share limited information with UIS volunteers and authorised chapter/programme administrators where they need it for their responsibilities.

We may share information with Italian Societies, universities, event hosts, mentors, tutors, research collaborators, employers or other partners when necessary for the programme you chose to participate in and when an appropriate data-protection arrangement exists.

We may disclose information where required by law, legal process, regulators, courts or law-enforcement authorities, or where reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety or security.

If UIS is reorganised or transfers responsibility for a programme, appropriate safeguards will apply to any transfer of personal information.

UIS does not sell personal information. UIS does not share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.

16. Service providers and independent organisations

A service provider processing information solely on UIS's instructions acts as our processor or service provider and must be subject to appropriate contractual and security protections.

An employer receiving an application, an independently governed Italian Society, a university running its own event, or another partner may instead act as a separate controller.

UIS does not claim responsibility for independent processing carried out by another controller outside the purposes determined jointly or by UIS.

17. International transfers

UIS operates internationally and may use providers or work with partners in the United Kingdom, European Economic Area, United States and other countries.

Where personal information is transferred from the UK or EEA to a country that is not covered by an applicable adequacy decision, we will use an appropriate transfer mechanism where required, such as approved standard contractual clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, or another legally recognised safeguard.

Where a US recipient validly participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or UK Extension and the transfer is covered by that framework, UIS may rely on that mechanism where appropriate.

18. Marketing and communications

Service communications, security messages, account confirmations and messages necessary to operate a programme are not treated as optional marketing.

For newsletters, fundraising, opportunities and promotional communications, we will comply with the applicable electronic-marketing rules.

Where consent is required, we will use a genuine opt-in and maintain a record of the preference.

Every marketing email will contain an appropriate way to unsubscribe.

UIS will not rely on any charity-specific marketing exemption unless and until it is legally entitled to do so.

19. Cookies and similar technologies

We use technologies that are strictly necessary for authentication, security, session management and the functionality requested by users.

We may also use analytics or other optional technologies.

Where consent is required by applicable law, we will not activate non-essential cookies or similar tracking technologies until the user has made the relevant choice.

Users must be able to change or withdraw applicable cookie choices.

UIS should maintain a separate Cookie Notice identifying the technologies actually deployed, their providers, purposes and durations.

20. Data retention

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, for legitimate organisational needs, or to satisfy legal, accounting, safeguarding or dispute-resolution requirements.

As our default operational schedule, UIS intends to use the following periods unless a particular programme notice, legal requirement or documented necessity requires otherwise:

When the retention period ends, we delete, anonymise or securely archive information as appropriate.

21. Your UK and EEA rights

Subject to applicable law and relevant exceptions, you may have the right to access your personal information; correct inaccurate information; request deletion; restrict processing; receive certain information in a portable format; object to processing based on legitimate interests; object to direct marketing; and withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

You also have rights relating to qualifying solely automated decision-making.

There is no charge for exercising a privacy right in ordinary circumstances.

To exercise a right, email privacy@uniteditaliansocieties.com.

We may need to take reasonable steps to verify your identity before fulfilling a request.

22. United States privacy rights

UIS aims to provide a strong baseline of privacy rights regardless of whether a particular US state privacy statute currently applies to UIS.

Depending on your state and the applicable law, you may have rights to know whether we process your data, access it, correct it, delete it, obtain a portable copy, opt out of sale, opt out of targeted advertising, opt out of certain profiling, restrict or limit certain sensitive-data processing, and appeal a decision on a privacy request.

UIS currently does not sell personal information and does not use personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising.

Where applicable law requires recognition of a valid universal opt-out mechanism, UIS will respect such signals for processing to which the legal opt-out applies.

If applicable state law gives you a right to appeal our response to a request, you may appeal by emailing privacy@uniteditaliansocieties.com with the subject “Privacy Appeal”.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising applicable privacy rights.

23. How to exercise privacy rights

Please contact privacy@uniteditaliansocieties.com.

Include enough information for us to identify the relevant account or interaction and understand your request, but do not send sensitive identification documents unless we specifically request them through a secure process.

We aim to respond within one month where practicable. Where applicable law sets another deadline, we will respond within the legally required period.

An authorised agent may submit a request where applicable law permits it. We may verify the agent's authority and, where permitted, verify the request directly with you.

24. Security

UIS uses administrative, organisational and technical measures intended to protect personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, destruction and loss.

These measures may include access controls, least-privilege permissions, row-level database security, authentication controls, encrypted communications, vendor security controls, backups, audit logging, restricted access to imported/raw information and review of privileged administrative access.

No online service can guarantee absolute security.

If we identify a personal-data breach, we will investigate it and notify affected individuals and regulators where required by applicable law.

25. Directory and profile privacy by default

UIS applies privacy by default to member discovery.

A user should not become searchable merely by creating an account, registering for an event, appearing in historical UIS data or joining a programme.

Directory visibility requires an affirmative user setting and is subject to additional eligibility and security rules.

We may temporarily restrict profile visibility where necessary for safety, integrity, investigation or compliance reasons.

26. Automated decision-making

UIS does not currently use solely automated processing to make decisions about individuals that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Software may assist with administrative triage, identity matching, recommendations, matching or prioritisation. Where a consequential decision is involved, UIS intends to preserve appropriate human oversight.

If this materially changes, we will update this Policy and provide any additional choices or rights required by law before introducing the new processing.

27. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy as UIS, our services or applicable law evolve.

The current version and effective date will always be displayed at the top of the Policy.

If a change materially affects how we use existing personal information, we will provide additional notice where appropriate and, where required, obtain consent before beginning the new processing.

28. Complaints

We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any privacy concern.

People in the United Kingdom may also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

People in the European Economic Area may complain to the competent data-protection supervisory authority in the country where they live, work or believe an infringement occurred.

US residents may contact the competent state regulator or Attorney General where applicable.

Exercising a complaint right will not affect any other legal rights you may have.

29. Contact