Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are & Scope

The Next Thinkers ("TNT", "we", "us", "our") operates a youth-driven platform focused on Social Service, Educational Research, and Science & Technology. This Privacy Policy applies to all our websites, events, forums, research submissions, and any digital services where this policy is linked.

By engaging with our platform, you trust us with your information. We take that responsibility seriously and commit to protecting your privacy while fostering critical thinking and innovation.

2. What Information We Collect

We collect minimal data necessary to build a safe, collaborative community:

• Account information: name, email address, country, date of birth (to verify age eligibility), and a username.
• Profile details (optional): areas of interest (e.g., educational research, science ethics, social projects), biography, and profile photo.
• Content submissions: research papers, articles, project ideas, comments, and forum posts that you voluntarily share.
• Usage data: pages visited, event registrations, time spent on resources — only to improve our educational offerings.
• Cookies & similar tech: strictly functional and analytics cookies (no invasive tracking). You can manage preferences via your browser.

Special category data We do NOT collect sensitive data (political opinions, health, biometric, or sexual orientation) unless you explicitly choose to share in a research context with clear consent.

3. How We Use Your Information

Your data helps us fulfill our mission: building a generation of ethical thinkers. We use information to:

• Create and manage your account, allowing you to submit research & join events.
• Facilitate community discussions and collaborative research groups.
• Send important updates (e.g., changes to terms, event reminders) — always with an unsubscribe option for non-essential messages.
• Improve platform safety — detect spam, plagiarism, or harassment in line with our human rights values.
• Analyze anonymous usage trends to enhance our science & tech resources.

We will never: sell your data to advertisers, political parties, or third-party data brokers. Your trust is our greatest asset.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Depending on your location, we rely on the following lawful bases:

• Consent: When you register, submit content, or agree to cookies.
• Contractual necessity: To provide the services you request (e.g., event participation).
• Legitimate interests: To maintain platform security, prevent fraud, and improve our educational impact — always balanced with your privacy rights.
• Legal compliance: When required by law (e.g., reporting illegal content).

5. When We Share Your Data

We only share data in limited, transparent scenarios:

• Service providers: Trusted partners (hosting, email delivery, analytics) who must comply with strict data protection agreements.
• Legal obligations: If required by law enforcement or to protect the rights/safety of our community.
• With your explicit consent: For collaborative research publications where you agree to be identified as a contributor.

Our platform may contain links to external educational resources (universities, open access journals). We are not responsible for their privacy practices — please review their policies.

6. Special Protections for Young Users

Because we are a youth-driven platform, we take extra precautions:

• We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. If you are under 13, please do not submit any data — have a parent or guardian contact us.
• If we discover that we have collected data from a child under 13 without proper consent, we will delete it immediately.
• For users between 13 and 18, we encourage discussing this Privacy Policy with a parent or guardian. We never target behavioral advertising to minors.

7. Your Data Rights

Regardless of where you live, you have control over your personal data. Depending on your jurisdiction (GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, etc.), you may request:

To exercise your rights, email privacy@thenextthinkers.org. We will respond within 30 days (or faster if required by law). No discrimination for exercising rights.

8. Data Retention & Security

Retention: We keep your account data as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. If you delete your account, we will remove or anonymize your personal data within 60 days, except when retention is required for legal compliance (e.g., fraud prevention).

Security measures: We use industry-standard encryption (TLS/SSL), secure servers, regular vulnerability scans, and access controls. However, no internet transmission is 100% secure — we encourage you to use strong passwords and notify us of any suspected breach.

9. International Transfers

The Next Thinkers operates globally. Your data may be processed in countries where we or our service providers are located. For transfers from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, we ensure appropriate safeguards (e.g., Standard Contractual Clauses) or adequacy decisions. We are committed to protecting your data regardless of location.

10. Cookies & Analytics

We use minimal cookies to enhance functionality:

• Essential cookies: Required for login, session security, and form submissions.
• Analytics cookies: Anonymous, aggregated statistics (via privacy-friendly tools like Plausible or anonymized Google Analytics) to understand which resources help our community most. We do not use retargeting or advertising cookies.

You can disable non-essential cookies via your browser settings, but some platform features may not work properly. We do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals at this time due to lack of standardization.

11. External Resources

Our articles, research hubs, and event pages may include links to external websites (universities, open-access journals, NGOs). Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we encourage you to read them. TNT is not responsible for third-party content or data practices.

12. Updates to This Policy

We will update this Privacy Policy as our platform grows and data protection laws evolve. If we make material changes (e.g., new data uses, expanded sharing), we will notify you via email or a prominent notice on our website at least 30 days in advance. The "Effective Date" at the top indicates the latest version.

13. Contact & Complaints