Terms and Conditions

Introduction

The Site has been created for the specific purpose of assisting with the PhD research project, "How the effects of marketisation impact on local deaf charities".  Whilst it is only one instrument being used to collect research data it is nonetheless vital that rigorous academic standards are applied and that the Research Student is able to purposefully select contributors who meet the Research Project criteria. It is for this reason and this reason alone that there is a Members Area on the site and it is necessary to make Membership subject to approval.  Eligibility for membership is set out below and these are the only criteria by which approval will be given or declined.

You can become a Member of this Site and contribute to the Research Forum without becoming a full Research Participant to the Research Project.

​

Some Members will also be full Research Participants, which means that in addition to meeting the criteria of eligibility set out in these Terms and Conditions, they have been selected as cases for the in-depth case study part of the Research Project. Research Participants are communicated with at an individual level and must complete and return the Research Participant Information Letter and Research Participant Consent Form.  Dummy documents are available on the Site for reference and with BSL interpretation for the convenience of those people involved.

Eligibility

Becoming a Member and/or a Research Participant on this academic project is free but subject to the following strict criteria:

• Membership is open to individuals only (not organisations, charities, or other business entities). 

• You must be at least eighteen (18) years of age.

• Your work must be based in England, which is the geographical boundary of the Research Project for which the Site has been created.

Members and Research Participants also need to be one or more of the following:

·       senior managers of local deaf charities

·       senior managers of for-profit BSL interpreting agencies

·       fully qualified BSL interpreters.

You are permitted to have only one Member account.

Conflict of Interest

You must notify me immediately of any such activities or circumstances that give rise to or could give rise to a conflict of interests between your role as a Research Participant and/or Member and any other obligation you may be subject to. In the event of a conflict of interest arising during the course of a project, I reserve the right to terminate your role as a Research Participant and/or Member.

Your Member Account

While you may access the public front page of this Site without registering for a Member account, in order for an account to be established in your name and to contribute to the Research Forum, you must complete the provided online registration. To open a Member account, you must provide complete and valid contact information, and all other requested information. Your account must have a unique and valid e-mail address and password.

​

You agree to provide only accurate, current and complete registration information and to keep that information updated in order to maintain its accuracy. I may terminate or suspend your membership if you fail to provide or keep your personal information accurate and complete.

You may use only one (1) password to open and access your account, and you may not use another account holder's password or allow anyone else to use your password, for any reason. You are solely responsible for the security of your user name and password and any activity that occurs under your Member account, whether authorised or unauthorised. I will not be responsible for any losses incurred through the use of your password by a third party, except when unauthorised use is directly attributable to gross negligence or wilful misconduct by me as the Research Student . You agree to immediately notify me of any unauthorised use or breach of your Member account.

Should you forget your password, you may request a new one using the Contact Form.

By registering as a Member of this Site, you agree to receive e-mail invitations to participate in surveys and online forums relating to the Research Project that is the subject of this Site. I do not guarantee that you will receive a certain minimum number of invitations or any invitations at all. Your participation in any projects and your disclosure of any personal data is completely voluntary.

As the Research Student, I retain the right to monitor all member activity within the Site. If required by law, or if you have violated the Member Code of Conduct below, or in the event that your Member account shows signs of fraud, abuse or suspicious activity, or as otherwise deemed necessary by me (for instance where you do not respond to a reasonable number of requests to participate in research projects) your Member account may be terminated. If you have conducted any fraudulent activity, I reserve the right to take any necessary legal action and you may be liable for monetary losses to me and to the University of Gloucestershire, including litigation costs and damages, and you will not be allowed to participate in the Site in the future.

​

Some Members are contributing more comprehensively to the Research Project and will be participating in one-to-one interviews. If you are invited to become one of these purposefully selected Research Participants, you will be required to complete and return a Research Participant Information Letter and a Consent Form.  You should also read the University of Gloucestershire's Privacy Policy.

​

Information you make public on the Site

You should be aware that any information you choose to make public on the Site, in the Community area (as an opinion or topic in a message board or live chat or any other public area or forum) can be read, collected, or used by other users and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. As the Research Student , I am not responsible for the information you choose to submit or make public in this way. In addition, I am not responsible for the content you publicly post on the Site that can be found via web-based search engines.

Modifying your Profile

You are provided with a Members Area on the Site; here you may correct or update your panel membership information or delete your panel membership. If you need to correct or update any of your profile information, you may do so by clicking on Your Profile after logging in. By following the appropriate directions, your information should be automatically updated in the Site's database.

You have the right to request access to your data held by me and the University of Gloucestershire relating to this Research Project. In order to request this data you may contact me 

Termination of Membership

You may cancel your account at any time by activating the "Unsubscribe" feature on this Site. You may do so by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the Site pages. Alternatively, members can submit a request via the Contact Me form.

Your account will be cancelled if you withdraw or unsubscribe from the Site. Upon your unsubscribing, cancellation or withdrawal from the Site, your Member account will be closed. In most cases it will take 2 to 3 days to process this change, but it may take up to two full weeks for your status to be finalised. In the meantime, you may receive e-mails from me. You understand and agree that, as noted above, upon closing your account, your right to access your Member account will cease. I reserve the right to terminate your Member account at any time for any reason.

Non-Acceptance

As the Research Student, I reserve the right to reject your application to become a Research Participant and/or Member to take part in this Research Project without any reason and without notice to you.

Research Project

Participation in this Research Project is voluntary. You may be invited to participate in the research in a number of ways, including but not limited to:

• Take part in online or face-to-face interviews

• Take part in online forums

• Take part in face-to face focus groups

• Respond to queries by e-mail

• Take part in polls

• Complete online surveys

By becoming a Research Participant and/or Member, you are agreeing to and authorising me to share any data collected on this Site with my academic supervisors at the University of Gloucestershire. The University of Gloucestershire has a rigorous Privacy Policy relating to research study, which is available on this Site in both BSL and English.

Code of Conduct for All Parts of the Site

• Do not impersonate any individual or entity, including, without limitation, the Research Student, any employee, tutor or student of the University of Gloucestershire or other Site members or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including by "framing" any portion of this Site to make it look like you have a relationship with me or the University of Gloucestershire or that we have endorsed you for any purpose.

• Do not attempt to circumvent the Site or any security measures used on the Site, including by posting content which does not respond to or pose any question.

• Do not release, publish or otherwise disclose or make reference to any Survey or Site content in any media without our prior written permission.

• Do not collect or store any personal information about other members of this Site and in particular do not obtain email addresses of other Site members or third parties with a view to sending unsolicited emails, for whatever reason or purpose.

• Do not attempt to access any service or area of the Site or any Surveys, the server on which our Site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Site that you are not authorised to access.​

• Do not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means or interface to access the Site or extract data.

• Do not misuse the Site by knowingly introducing, or sending to or otherwise impact me or this Site (or anything or anyone else) with harmful, illegal, deceptive or disruptive code such as a virus, "spyware", "adware" or other code that could adversely impact this Site or any recipient or take any action, such as a denial of service attack, that might impose a burden on this Site's infrastructure or interfere with the ordinary operation of this Site. You must not attack the Site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.

• Do not communicate with the Site through the Contact Form in a manner which is obscene, vulgar, harmful, insulting, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libellous, untrue or misleading.

• Do not engage in any other activity that the Research Student or the University of Gloucestershire may reasonably deem improper or abusive. Failure to comply with this Code of Conduct may result in termination of your Member account.

Please note that there is an additional Code of Conduct specifically for the Research Forum.

By breaching any of these provisions in the Code of Conduct for All Parts of the Site, you may be committing a criminal offence under local applicable law. The Research Student will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and I will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use this Site will cease immediately.

​

Code of Conduct for Forum Online Discussions

In addition to complying with the Site Terms and Conditions set out here, visitors who contribute to the Research Forum must abide by the Site's separate  Code of Conduct.

Member Content and Licence

You hereby grant the Research Student a non-exclusive, perpetual, unlimited, worldwide, royalty-free right to use your contribution for the purpose of the Research Project for which this Site has been specifically created (e.g., your opinions, ideas and survey responses) in accordance with the terms set out in the Information Letter and Consent Form. You, not the Research Student, will have sole responsibility and liability for all content you use, upload, post or submit to the Site, including the obligation to obtain any necessary approvals and authorisations required to post such content. By submitting such content to the Site, you release the Research Student and the University of Gloucestershire from any obligation to compensate you in respect of use of such content in any form for the purpose of the Research Project.
You hereby waive any moral rights (as provided in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) that may vest in you in relation to any use we may make of your Contributions.

Intellectual Property

You acknowledge that all materials on the Site, including the Site's design, graphics, text, sounds, pictures, software and other files and the selection and arrangement thereof (collectively, "Materials") are the exclusive property of the Research Student or its licensors and subject to and protected by United Kingdom and international copyright and other intellectual property laws and rights. Except as expressly authorised by these Terms or on the Site, you may not copy, reproduce, distribute, republish, download, perform, display, post, transmit, exploit, create derivative works or otherwise use any of the Materials in any form or by any means, without the prior written authorisation of the intellectual property rights owner. You are authorised to view and download the Resource Material only for personal, non-commercial use, provided that you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the original Resource Materials. You may not modify or adapt the Resource Materials in any way or otherwise use them for any public or commercial purposes.
All trademarks, service marks, logos and trade names used on this Site are the property of the Research Student and/or the University of Gloucestershire and may not be copied, imitated or otherwise used, in whole or in part. All rights are reserved.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You expressly agree that your use of this Site and your Member account is at your sole risk. The Research Student hereby disclaims all warranties, duties or conditions relating to: (a) satisfactory quality, of fitness for a particular purpose or use, of results, and of accuracy or completeness or privacy or security of information; (b) that the site will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free. The Research Student further disclaims all duties to you, if any such duties exist, including but not limited to reasonable care, workmanlike effort, freedom from computer virus, and lack of negligence. The Research Student further makes no warranty of title or against interference with your enjoyment of any aspect of the complete site, or against infringement. Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of the site is done at your own discretion and risk and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from the Research Student on or through the site shall create any warranty not expressly stated in these terms.

Limitation of Liability

With the exception of personal injury or death resulting from their negligence or any liability for fraud, the Research Student shall not under any circumstances be liable for any damages of any kind arising out of, in connection with or relating to the use of or inability to use the Site, including any liability (i) as a publisher of information, (ii) for any incorrect or inaccurate information, (iii) for any unauthorised access to or disclosure of your transmissions or data, (iv) for statements or conduct of any third party on the site, or (vii) for any other matter relating to this Site or any third party website. Subject to the exceptions stated at the beginning of this paragraph this is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including, to the fullest extent allowed by law, for any special, incidental, punitive, consequential or similar general damages, or for damages for lost profits, loss or impairment of privacy, security or data, failure to meet any duty (including but not limited to any duty of good faith, workmanlike effort or of lack of negligence), or for any other similar damages whatsoever that arise out of or are related to any breach or other aspect of the entire agreement or this Site, even if the Research Student has been advised of the possibility of such damages and even in the event of fault, tort (including negligence) or misrepresentation.

Indemnification

You agree to compensate and hold the Research Student and University of Gloucestershire harmless from any and all claims, losses, damages, suits, fines, levies and costs (including reasonable legal fees, arising from or related to your use of or conduct on this Site and any content you place on, submit to or transmit through this Site, your breach of these Terms, your infringement or violation of any rights of another, or termination of your access to the Site, including Claims made by third parties. You agree that Research Student and University of Gloucestershire has the unlimited right to defend any Claim and to settle any Claim without your prior permission. You agree to provide the Research Student with all reasonable assistance in the defence of any Claim.

Governing Law and Exclusive Forum

These Terms and all performances and claims of every nature (including without limitation, contract, tort and strict liability) relating in any way to any aspect of this Site shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes regarding such claims or arising under or related in any way to these Terms or this Site shall be heard exclusively in the appropriate forum in the English courts. You hereby consent to exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts and waive any claim or defence that such forum is not convenient or proper, and consent to service of process by any means authorised by the laws of England and Wales.

Entire Agreement

If you have a complaint or require further information about these Terms, please get in touch using the Contact Form on the Site.