Privacy Policy
1. Who We Are
This Privacy Policy explains how Proud Pen ("we", "us") processes personal data in connection with the International Conference on Higher Education and Lifelong Learning (HLCONF), including the hlconf.org website, its forms and our email communications.
Contact: [email protected]
2. Data We Collect
- Submissions: abstract, paper file, author and co-author names, institutions and emails, phone number, any AI-use declaration and the version of the author policy shown at submission.
- Submission updates: original submission ID, request type and reason, revised files, change summary, response to reviewers, any revised AI-use declaration and our outcome.
- Registrations: each attendee's name, institution, email, phone, address, country and registration type; and, where someone registers on another person's behalf, the booking contact's name, email, optional phone and relationship to the attendee.
- SMS consent: your phone number and your choice to receive SMS notifications.
- Invitation letters (only if requested): name as in passport, nationality, date of birth, passport number and passport expiry date.
- Pro forma invoice requests: contact name and email, institution or company billing details, optional VAT or company number, attendee names and categories, quantities, instructions, request reference and the issued invoice record.
- Payments: card details are handled by PayPal and are not stored on hlconf.org. We keep payment and order records (amount, currency, status, transaction reference, invoices and receipts, payment matching) and bank-transfer receipts.
- Feedback: peer-review feedback (name, paper title, optional email, ratings and comments) and conference feedback (name, email, participation and source answers, ratings and comments), each linked to the conference edition.
- Contact, committee and partnership enquiries: the details you send us.
- Technical data: website analytics and, with each form, the conference edition, traffic source or campaign, landing page, referrer and a country derived from your IP address.
- Event media: photographs and recordings taken at the conference.
3. Why We Use It
- Administering the conference, submissions and registrations
- Running the peer-review process
- Publishing accepted work
- Preparing badges and certificates for each attendee
- Matching and processing submission update requests
- Preparing requested pro forma invoices and matching institutional payments
- Issuing invoices and receipts
- Preparing invitation letters
- Sending result and deadline notifications by email and, with your consent, SMS
- Meeting legal obligations
- Assessing and improving the review process and conference experience through feedback
- Sending our newsletter, with your consent; you can unsubscribe at any time
4. Sharing
- Payment processors handle payments on our behalf.
- Publication outputs: author names and affiliations appear in the Abstract Book and Proceedings.
- We never sell personal data.
- Passport data is used only to produce the invitation letter and is never sent by SMS.
- Feedback is used for internal quality improvement. We do not publish feedback comments as testimonials or add respondents to marketing lists; any public quotation requires separate permission.
- Applicable AI writing declarations may accompany published work. They are kept separately from contact and reviewer records. The rules for authors are in the Generative AI Author Policy. Generative AI Author Policy
5. Retention
| Data | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Financial and tax records | As required by law (typically up to 10 years) |
| Registration and support records | 2–3 years after the event or last interaction |
| Marketing contacts | Up to 3 years after last interaction, or until you unsubscribe |
| Passport data (invitation letters) | Stored encrypted; deleted 6–12 months after the conference |
| Other invitation-letter records | 6–12 months after the event |
| Publications (programme, abstract book, proceedings) | Retained long-term as part of the scientific record |
| Photos and video | Retained for documentation and promotion unless you object and removal is feasible |
6. Your Rights
You can request access to, correction of or deletion of your personal data, and you can object to its processing. To exercise these rights, email [email protected].
7. Cookies
hlconf.org uses strictly necessary cookies to operate and, with your consent, analytics cookies to understand how the site is used. A consent banner lets you accept or decline non-essential cookies and change your choice at any time.
8. Updates
We may update this policy.