Legal, Privacy and Responsible Use Policy

Last updated: 20 September 2026

1. About this policy

This policy applies to the SCUK Alumni website, including Eglantyne, its public information pages, news and archive material, Practitioner Experiences, discussion facilities and any other services made available through the website (“the Site”).

In this policy, “SCUK Alumni”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the organisation responsible for operating the Site. “Eglantyne” means the Site’s artificial-intelligence-assisted humanitarian research service.

This policy:

explains the basis on which the Site and Eglantyne are made available;
sets out important limitations on their use;
explains how we intend to handle information and personal data;
identifies uses that are prohibited; and
describes how to raise a complaint or exercise your legal rights.

The terms governing use of the Site and the privacy information explaining our processing of personal data are presented together for convenience. We do not treat your use of the Site as consent to data processing where the law requires a different lawful basis or a separate, positive consent.

2. Nature and purpose of the Site

SCUK Alumni provides the Site as a public-interest, educational and professional knowledge resource. Its purposes include sharing humanitarian information, preserving professional experience, encouraging informed discussion and making relevant evidence easier to find and understand.

Eglantyne is an experimental, AI-assisted research service. It searches, compares, analyses and presents information from selected internet sources, structured datasets and Practitioner Experiences. It uses several automated systems and assurance processes intended to improve the accuracy and reliability of its answers.

These processes reduce risk; they do not eliminate it.

Artificial intelligence is probabilistic and may produce inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, ambiguous or misleading material. Source information may itself contain errors. Information can also change after an answer has been produced.

Eglantyne may decline to answer a question, qualify an answer, identify uncertainty or state that part of an answer could not be assured. Such warnings must not be removed or ignored when an answer is quoted, circulated or relied upon.

3. No emergency service

Neither Eglantyne nor any other part of the Site is an emergency, crisis-management or safeguarding service. It is not monitored continuously and must not be used to request urgent assistance.

If you or another person may be in immediate danger, contact the appropriate emergency service without delay. In the United Kingdom, call 999 or 112 for a life-threatening emergency. For urgent medical help that is not immediately life-threatening, use NHS 111 where appropriate. Outside the United Kingdom, contact the emergency services or relevant authorities in your location.

Do not use Eglantyne to report an active medical emergency, safeguarding concern, crime, security incident, humanitarian emergency or threat to life. Do not assume that any information entered will be seen by a person or passed to an appropriate authority.

4. No medical, financial or other professional advice

Content on the Site is provided for general information, research and educational purposes only.

It is not:

medical advice, diagnosis or treatment;
financial, investment, pensions, insurance or tax advice;
legal advice;
psychological or counselling advice;
professional safeguarding advice;
security or risk-management advice; or
operational instruction for decisions affecting life, health, liberty, property or financial welfare.

Eglantyne is not a doctor, clinician, pharmacist, emergency responder, regulated financial adviser, solicitor or other qualified professional. No doctor–patient, adviser–client, solicitor–client or other professional relationship is created by using the Site.

Never start, stop or alter medical treatment because of information provided by Eglantyne or the Site. Consult an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.

Never make an investment, borrowing, pension, insurance, tax or other financial decision solely because of information provided by Eglantyne or the Site. Consult an appropriately qualified and, where required, appropriately regulated adviser.

Any important decision should be checked against current primary sources and, where appropriate, reviewed by a suitably qualified human professional.

5. Humanitarian and operational decisions

Eglantyne may discuss humanitarian situations, conflict, displacement, public health, food security, safeguarding and other high-consequence subjects. Its outputs must not be treated as a substitute for local knowledge, professional judgement, an organisation’s approved procedures or current advice from competent authorities.

You must not rely on an Eglantyne answer as the sole basis for:

deploying people or resources;
determining whether an area or activity is safe;
identifying or locating a vulnerable person;
deciding eligibility for assistance;
taking safeguarding action;
making a clinical or public-health intervention; or
taking any other action that could materially affect an individual or community.

6. Accuracy, evidence and availability

We make reasonable efforts to operate the Site responsibly and to present evidence, sources, qualifications and limitations transparently.

However, we do not promise that:

any information is complete, accurate, current or suitable for a particular purpose;
an external source is reliable merely because it has been cited;
links, datasets or external services will remain available;
Eglantyne will interpret every source correctly;
every error or disagreement will be detected by its assurance processes;
use of different wording will produce the same answer;
the Site will be uninterrupted, secure or free from technical faults; or
material downloaded from the Site will be free from harmful code.

Where dates, figures, quotations, maps or claims matter, you should inspect the cited source and verify the information independently.

We may correct, withdraw, replace or update content without notice. We may also suspend or discontinue all or part of the Site.

7. Your responsibility when using Eglantyne

You are responsible for the questions, instructions and other material you submit.

Never enter personal details about yourself or another person when using Eglantyne or any other public internet service.

In particular, do not enter:

names or information capable of identifying an individual;
addresses, telephone numbers or email addresses;
dates of birth, identification numbers or account details;
medical records or health information;
financial or payment information;
information about children or vulnerable people;
information about race, ethnicity, religion, political opinions, sexuality or trade-union membership;
biometric or genetic information;
allegations, criminal-offence information or disciplinary material;
passwords, access credentials or security information;
confidential, classified or commercially sensitive material; or
information that you do not have authority to disclose.

Removing a person’s name may not be enough if other details could still identify them.

If you believe personal, confidential or sensitive information has been entered accidentally, contact admin1@scukalumni.org promptly. We will consider what action is reasonably available, although complete removal from systems operated by third parties may not always be technically possible.

8. Prohibited use

You must not use the Site:

unlawfully, fraudulently or maliciously;
to defame, threaten, harass or impersonate another person;
to infringe privacy, confidentiality, copyright or other rights;
to submit unlawful, discriminatory, abusive or harmful material;
to identify, profile, track or make consequential decisions about individuals;
to obtain advice for committing or concealing wrongdoing;
to introduce malware, interfere with security or attempt unauthorised access;
to place an unreasonable load on the Site or conduct automated extraction without permission;
to misrepresent an Eglantyne output as verified professional advice;
to remove qualifications, limitations, source information or assurance warnings from an answer; or
in any way that could reasonably cause harm to an individual, community or organisation.

We may restrict or block access, remove material or report suspected unlawful activity where reasonably necessary.

9. Information we intentionally retain from Eglantyne

For an ordinary public Eglantyne interaction, the content we intentionally retain in our own question archive is the question submitted.

We retain questions solely to:

examine how Eglantyne is being used;
identify failures, weaknesses and gaps;
test and improve accuracy, assurance and usability;
understand the broad subjects users find valuable; and
protect and improve the integrity of the service.

We do not deliberately attach your name, email address, account identity, IP address, precise location or other personal profile to the stored question.

We do not use stored questions for personalised advertising, and we do not sell them.

This is why it is essential that you do not include personal information in a question. A question containing personal information may itself become personal data even if we have not deliberately recorded the identity of the person who submitted it.

Where we identify personal or sensitive information in a retained question, we may redact or delete it where reasonably practicable.

10. Information processed elsewhere on the Site

The statement above relates to the public Eglantyne question archive. It does not mean that no information is processed anywhere else on the Site.

If you choose to:

create or use a member account;
appear in a membership directory;
post in a forum or discussion area;
apply for or advertise an opportunity;
send us an email;
submit a complaint;
exercise a data-protection right; or
otherwise communicate with us,

we will necessarily process the information you provide so that we can administer the relevant function, respond to you, maintain appropriate records and protect the Site.

You should not publish personal information about another person in a forum, directory, Practitioner Experience or other contribution unless you have a proper legal basis and authority to do so.

11. Technical information and service providers

Although we do not deliberately add identifying information to Eglantyne’s retained question archive, the technical operation of any internet service involves other systems.

Hosting providers, content-delivery networks, security services, email providers, AI service providers, telecommunications networks and other software vendors may temporarily process technical information such as:

IP addresses;
browser and device information;
access dates and times;
requested pages;
security events;
cookies or session identifiers; and
diagnostic or server logs.

Some information may be generated automatically before it reaches systems directly controlled by us.

We seek to use reputable providers and to configure services consistently with data minimisation and security. However, third-party services have their own infrastructure, security arrangements, retention practices and legal obligations. We cannot promise that no third-party system will ever process or retain technical information.

Where a provider processes personal data on our behalf, we remain responsible for meeting the obligations that applicable law places upon us. Nothing in this policy is intended to avoid a legal responsibility that cannot lawfully be transferred or excluded.

Some providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where data-protection law requires safeguards for an international transfer, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate legal mechanism is used.

12. Lawful bases and data-protection principles

We aim to comply with the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, relevant provisions of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 as they apply, and other applicable privacy and electronic-communications legislation.

Depending on the activity, our lawful basis may include:

our legitimate interests in operating, securing and improving a public-interest knowledge service;
performance of an agreement with a registered member;
compliance with a legal obligation;
protecting someone’s vital interests in exceptional circumstances; or
consent, where consent is legally required and specifically requested.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the necessity and proportionality of the processing and its likely effect on individuals.

We aim to collect only information reasonably necessary for a defined purpose, restrict access appropriately, keep it secure and avoid retaining it for longer than required.

13. Retention

Eglantyne questions may be retained for as long as they continue to provide a reasonable and proportionate basis for testing and improving the service. We will review the continuing need for this information and may aggregate, redact, anonymise or delete it.

Other records are retained according to their purpose, including account administration, correspondence, complaint handling, security, legal obligations and the establishment or defence of legal claims.

Backups and third-party systems may retain residual copies for a limited period after information has been removed from an active system.

Because Eglantyne questions are deliberately not linked to an identified user, we may be unable to locate a particular question from a person’s identity alone. Anyone requesting removal should provide the exact question, an approximate submission date and any other non-sensitive information reasonably necessary to locate it.

14. Cookies

The Site may use cookies or similar technology that is necessary for security, member sign-in, user preferences or the operation of particular functions.

Non-essential cookies, analytics or comparable tracking technologies will be used only where permitted by applicable law and, where required, after an appropriate choice has been offered.

Browser settings can be used to restrict cookies, although doing so may prevent some parts of the Site from functioning correctly.

15. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may have rights to:

be informed about the use of your personal data;
request access to personal data held about you;
request correction of inaccurate information;
request erasure in certain circumstances;
request restriction of processing;
object to processing based on legitimate interests;
receive certain information in a portable form; and
withdraw consent where processing depends on consent.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to statutory exceptions. We may need sufficient information to identify you and locate the relevant record before acting on a request. We will not collect unnecessary identification merely because you have made an enquiry.

To make a request or raise a privacy concern, email admin1@scukalumni.org.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concern first, but contacting us does not remove your right to approach the Information Commissioner.

16. Complaints and corrections

We welcome reports of significant factual errors, misleading answers, broken citations, privacy concerns, unlawful content and misuse of the Site.

Please send complaints or correction requests to:

admin1@scukalumni.org

Please include enough information for us to understand and investigate the matter, but do not send unnecessary personal, confidential or sensitive information.

We will seek to consider complaints fairly and within a reasonable period. We do not guarantee that every requested correction, removal or response will be made, particularly where doing so would conflict with the law, the rights of another person, legitimate archival purposes or technical limitations.

17. External sources and links

The Site includes information obtained from, or links to, third-party websites, reports, datasets and publications.

A citation or link does not mean that we:

control or endorse the external organisation;
guarantee the accuracy of its material;
accept responsibility for its privacy or security practices; or
promise that the content will remain available or unchanged.

External material remains subject to its owner’s terms and intellectual-property rights. You use external sites at your own discretion.

18. Intellectual property and contributions

Unless otherwise stated, material created for the Site is protected by applicable intellectual-property law. Third-party materials remain the property of their respective owners and may be subject to separate licences.

You may quote or share reasonable extracts for lawful personal, educational and non-commercial purposes, provided that you acknowledge the source, preserve relevant warnings and limitations, and do not misrepresent the material.

By submitting a question or voluntary contribution, you confirm that you are entitled to submit it. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, analyse, reproduce and adapt that material to the extent reasonably necessary to operate, secure, evaluate and improve the Site and Eglantyne.

You must not submit material whose use for those purposes would breach another person’s rights or duties of confidentiality.

19. Our legal responsibility

We do not seek to exclude responsibility that the law says cannot be excluded.

Accordingly, nothing in this policy excludes or limits liability for:

death or personal injury caused by negligence where that liability cannot lawfully be excluded;
fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
breach of data-protection obligations to the extent liability cannot lawfully be excluded;
violation of any applicable statutory right that cannot lawfully be excluded; or
any other matter for which exclusion or limitation of liability is prohibited by law.

Subject to those protections, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Site is made available without guarantees or warranties as to accuracy, completeness, availability, fitness for a particular purpose or results obtained from its use.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for loss or damage arising from:

reliance on information without appropriate independent verification;
use of the Site for medical, financial, legal, emergency or other professional decisions;
errors or omissions in third-party sources;
an AI-generated error that our reasonable assurance processes did not identify;
interruption, delay, technical failure or loss of availability;
acts or omissions of independent third-party providers;
unauthorised or prohibited use of the Site;
information entered contrary to the warnings in this policy; or
losses that were not reasonably foreseeable consequences of our acts or omissions.

Where the law imposes a duty or liability on us, we accept that duty or liability to the extent required by law. Nothing in this policy is intended to place us above the law or to deprive any person of a right or remedy that cannot legally be waived.

20. Indemnity for unlawful misuse

To the extent permitted by law, a person using the Site in the course of a business or organisation will be responsible for reasonably foreseeable losses, costs or claims caused by that person’s deliberate unlawful use, infringement of another person’s rights or material breach of this policy.

This provision does not apply to ordinary good-faith use by an individual consumer.

21. Governing law

This policy and use of the Site are governed by the law of England and Wales.

The courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction, except where applicable consumer law gives an individual the right to bring proceedings elsewhere or requires another mandatory law to apply.

22. Changes to this policy

We may revise this policy to reflect changes in Eglantyne, the Site, our suppliers, the law or our operating arrangements.

The current version will be published on the Site with its revision date. Material changes affecting the use of personal data will be brought to users’ attention where reasonably practicable and legally required.

23. Contact

For complaints, corrections, privacy enquiries or questions about this policy, contact:

SCUK Alumni
Email: admin1@scukalumni.org

Please do not include unnecessary personal, medical, financial, safeguarding or confidential information in your message.