سياسة الخصوصية

1. Introduction & Scope

This notice explains the privacy practices of the International Scientific Forum ("the Forum", "we", "us") regarding the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal data, in relation to visitors of this website and participants in the 19th Edition – Damascus, Syria (12 December 2026).

This policy applies to this website, all of its pages and its electronic forms. By using the website or submitting any information through its forms, you confirm that you have read and understood this policy and agree to the practices described in it. If you do not agree, please stop using the website and do not submit your information.

2. Who We Are

The International Scientific Forum organises the event and operates in cooperation with Arid Platform as its technical and operational partner. In this respect, the Forum acts as the controller of the personal data collected through this website and is responsible for determining the purposes and means of processing.

You may contact us at any time regarding any privacy matter or your personal data by email at info@arid.my.

3. Information We Collect

a. Information you provide voluntarily

We collect the information you enter yourself when using the website's services, including:

• Abstract submission: name, email address, phone number, institution, country, co-authors, paper title in Arabic and English, target conference, presentation type and attendance mode, keywords, and the abstract text.
• Exhibition registration: inventor name, email, phone, country, institution, innovation name, field, description, participation type, and any additional notes.
• Contact form: name, email, phone, country, subject, and message.
• Workshop registration: collected through the official embedded Google Form on the course page, covering full name, email, phone/WhatsApp number, and the preferred committee.
• Abstract status lookup: the submission code you enter to check the review status.

b. Information collected automatically

When you browse the website, certain technical data is collected automatically by our hosting and infrastructure providers. This includes IP address, browser type and operating system, device type, pages viewed and time spent, and referring source. This data is used to operate the website, secure it and improve its performance, and is not used on its own to identify you.

c. Information stored in your browser

When you submit an abstract, the website stores the submission codes in your browser's local storage (localStorage) so you can easily review them later. This data stays on your device and is not sent to us; you can delete it by clearing your browser data.

4. How We Use Information

We use your personal data strictly for the following purposes:

• Receiving, scientifically reviewing and evaluating research abstracts, and notifying you of the outcome.
• Organising your participation in the Forum, its conferences, workshops and exhibition, and issuing certificates and official documents.
• Communicating with you about your submissions, enquiries, registration procedures and interviews.
• Scientific archiving and producing aggregate, non-identifying statistics about participant numbers and distribution.
• Protecting the website against misuse, intrusion attempts and spam.
• Sending announcements and information about the Forum's activities and future editions, with the ability to unsubscribe at any time.
• Meeting any legal, regulatory or contractual obligations.

5. Legal Basis for Processing

We rely on one or more of the following legal bases when processing your personal data:

• Consent: where you provide your information voluntarily through our forms.
• Performance of your request: where processing is necessary to assess your participation or to perform our contractual obligations towards you.
• Legitimate interests: limited to operating and securing the website, preventing misuse and improving our services.
• Legal obligation: where legal or regulatory requirements oblige us to retain or disclose certain data.

6. Cookies & Tracking

This website uses cookies, pixel tags and similar technologies to ensure the website works properly, measure page performance, and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

Advertising pixel (AdRoll / NextRoll)

The website uses the AdRoll / NextRoll pixel on its public pages. This pixel sets a cookie named __adroll and loads a script from the s.adroll.com domain, recording a page-view event when you open the website. The purpose is to measure advertising campaign performance and to show more relevant advertising to visitors on other websites.

• The pixel does not use your direct personal data, such as your name or email address, to serve advertising.
• You can opt out of interest-based advertising via AdRoll opt-out, YourAdChoices, and the NAI.
• You can also configure your browser to block or delete cookies; note that this may affect how parts of the website function.
• The website uses YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com) when displaying videos, and no additional social pixels or other analytics tools are currently in use.

7. Sharing with Service Providers

We do not sell or trade your personal data to anyone. Your data may be processed by trusted service providers to the extent necessary to run the website and deliver its services, as follows:

We may also disclose data where required by law, a court order, or to protect our rights, property or people's safety, or in the context of an administrative reorganisation or merger with an entity organising the event. Where your data is transferred to another entity, we will require it to uphold the level of protection described in this policy.

8. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as needed to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, as follows:

• Registration and abstract data: kept throughout the preparation for and holding of the Forum, and for no longer than 24 months after the edition ends, unless peer review, scientific publication or a legal obligation requires a longer period.
• Published or archived data: data relating to accepted papers and participants may be kept permanently in the Forum's scientific archive, as it constitutes a scientific record of the event.
• Contact messages: kept for up to 12 months from receipt, then deleted.
• Submission codes in your browser: remain on your device until you delete them; we have no means of accessing or remotely erasing them.

After the retention period ends, we delete the data or render it anonymous so that it can no longer be linked to you.

9. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification: correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure: request deletion of your data where processing is no longer necessary for the stated purposes.
• Objection and restriction: object to or request restriction of certain processing.
• Withdraw consent: withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
• Portability: request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Unsubscribe: stop receiving promotional and informational messages at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at info@arid.my. We will respond within a reasonable period and after verifying your identity.

10. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure. These include encrypted (HTTPS) connections between your browser and the website server, limiting access to form data to a narrow group of authorised administrators, and periodically reviewing access permissions.

However, no internet system can guarantee absolute protection. A simple step is therefore also up to you: do not submit unnecessary sensitive information in our forms, and keep your submission code safe. If you become aware of any vulnerability or unauthorised access, please notify us immediately.

11. Children's Privacy

This website serves a scholarly academic event aimed at researchers, academics and participants aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personally identifying information from anyone under 18. If we learn that we have collected data from someone below that age without parental consent, we will delete it as soon as possible. If you become aware of such a case, please contact us.

12. International Transfers

Your data may be stored or processed on servers belonging to the service providers listed in Section 7, and some of those servers may be located outside your country of residence or outside Syria. In such cases we take reasonable steps to ensure your data remains protected to a standard no lower than that set out in this policy.

13. Links to External Sites

This website contains links to external websites and platforms, such as the Forum portal, Arid Platform, social media pages, and the Scientific Startup Summit in Syria website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every website you visit.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services or for legal and regulatory reasons. The updated version will be published on this page with a revised "Last updated" date at the top, and any material change will be clearly announced. Your continued use of the website after the changes are published constitutes your acceptance of them.