Data protection

Privacy policy

What do we do?

The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (Laupenstrasse 7, P.O. Box, 3001 Bern) operate the following websites (hereinafter referred to as "we"):

• akademien-schweiz.ch

• academies-suisses.ch

• accademie-svizzere.ch

• swiss-academies.ch

• swissyoungacademy.ch

• ageingsociety.ch

• polarforschung.ch

• recherche-polaire.ch

• polar-research.ch

• prixmedia.ch

• transdisciplinarity.ch
  

The protection of your personal data is very important to us. In this privacy policy, we provide you with transparent and comprehensible information about what data we collect via our website and how we handle it.

For this reason, we use the icons of the PRIVACY ICONS association. They are intended to help you quickly gain an overview of how we process your data.

What do we inform about?

• Who is responsible for data processing;

• What data is collected;

• The purpose for which this data is collected;

• To whom we pass on this data;

• How you can object to data processing;

• What rights you have and how you can assert them.

Definition of terms

What is personal data?

Personal data is all information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person. This includes, for example, name, address, date of birth, e-mail address or telephone number as well as the IP ad-dress. Personal data also includes data about personal preferences such as leisure activities or memberships.

What are special categories of personal data?

Special categories of personal data are:

• Data on religious, ideological, political or trade union views or activities;

• Data relating to health, privacy, racial or ethnic origin, sex life and sexual orientation;

• Data on administrative or criminal prosecutions and sanctions, as well as data on social assistance measures;

• Genetic data and biometric data that uniquely identify a person.

If necessary and if you disclose this data to us yourself, we may process data belonging to a special category of personal data. In this case, their processing is subject to stricter confidentiality.

What is the processing of personal data?

Processing (synonymous with the term ‘editing’) refers to any handling of personal data, regardless of the means and procedures used, in particular the collection, storage, retention, use, modification, disclosure, archiving, deletion or destruction of personal data.

What is the disclosure of personal data?

This is the transmission or making available of personal data, e.g. publication or disclosure to a third party.

Contact

If you have any questions or concerns about the protection of your data by us, you can contact our Head of Communication:

Dr. Sindy Schmiegel Werner
Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences
Laupenstrasse 7
P.O. Box
3001 Bern
kommunikation@swiss-academies.ch

Data security

We will keep your data secure and take all reasonable steps to protect your data from loss, access, misuse or alteration.

Our contractual partners and employees who have access to your data are obliged to comply with data protection regulations. In some cases, it will be necessary for us to pass on your enquiries to our affiliated companies as part of order processing. Your data will also be treated confidentially in these cases.

Within our website, we use the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) method in conjunction with the highest level of encryption supported by your browser.

Rights of data subjects

Right to information

You can request information about the data we have stored about you at any time. Please send your request for information together with credible proof of identity to kommunikation@swiss-academies.ch

The information will be provided in writing or in another form, including electronically if necessary. If you so request, we can also provide you with the information verbally, provided that you can prove your identity in another form. If you submit the request for information electronically, we will provide the information in a standard electronic format, unless you specify otherwise.

As a rule, information is provided free of charge. If additional copies are requested, a reasonable fee may be charged.

The right to obtain a copy of the processed data must not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of other persons.

In the event of manifestly unfounded or excessive requests for information, we reserve the right to re-fuse to provide information within the limits of the law or to charge an appropriate fee.

The processing of your application is subject to the statutory deadline of one month. Due to the complexity and high number of requests, we may extend this period by a further two months if necessary. You will be informed of the extension within one month of submitting the request for information. You will also be informed of the reasons for the extension.

Cancellation and rectification

You have the option of requesting the deletion, correction or completion of your data at any time, provided that there are no statutory retention obligations or a legal authorisation requirement to the contrary.

Please note that the exercise of your rights may be in conflict with contractual agreements and may have corresponding effects on the execution of the contract (e.g. premature cancellation of the contract or cost consequences).

Restriction of processing

You also have the right to request a restriction of processing if you dispute the accuracy of this data, the processing is unlawful, the data is no longer required or you have objected to the processing.

If the processing of the data is restricted, it may only be stored. Further processing may only take place with your consent, for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, for the protection of the rights of another person or for reasons of important public interest. You will be notified if the restriction is lifted.

Right to data portability

You have the right to receive your data in a commonly used file format or (if technically feasible) to have it transferred to a third party if we process your data automatically and if:

• you have given your consent to the processing of this data; or

• you have disclosed data in connection with the conclusion or execution of a contract.

Right of objection

You have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to processing, including profiling, that is based on our legitimate interests. This right also applies to processing for direct marketing purposes.

Right of appeal

If you are affected by the processing of personal data, you have the right to enforce your rights in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority. The competent supervisory authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

General principles

What data do we process from you and from whom do we receive this data?

First and foremost, we process personal data that you transmit to us or that we collect when operating our website. We may also receive personal data about you from third parties. This may include the following categories:

• Personal master data (name, address, date of birth, etc.);

• Contact details (mobile phone number, e-mail address, etc.);

• Financial data (e.g. account details);

• Online identifiers (e.g. cookie identifiers, IP addresses);

This data can come from the following sources:

• Information from publicly accessible sources (e.g. media, Internet);

• Information from public registers (e.g. commercial register, debt collection register, land register);

• Information in connection with official or legal proceedings;

• Information regarding your professional functions and activities (e.g. professional networks);

• Information about you in correspondence and meetings with third parties;

• Credit information (insofar as we process personal transactions with you);

• Information about you that people from your environment give us so that we can conclude or process contracts with you;

• Data in connection with the use of the website.

Under what conditions do we process your data?

We process your data in accordance with the applicable data protection laws, in particular the GDPR. The processing is carried out for the purposes specified in this privacy policy. We pay attention to transparency and proportionality.

The processing of your data is lawful as long as a GDPR authorisation is fulfilled. The following are possible grounds for authorisation:

• Your consent;

• The fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures;

• The fulfilment of legal obligations;

• Our legitimate interests, provided that your interests do not outweigh ours.

It may be necessary for you to provide us with certain personal data so that we can fulfil our contractual obligations. Without such data, we are normally unable to fulfil a contract.

Under normal circumstances, the website cannot be used if certain information to secure data traffic, such as your IP address, is not disclosed.

How can you revoke your consent?

If you have given us your consent to process your personal data for specific purposes, we will process your data within the scope of this consent, unless we have another justification or another legal basis applies.

You can revoke your consent at any time for the future by sending an email to the address given in the legal notice. Data processing that has already taken place is not affected by the revocation and remains valid.

In which cases can we pass on your data to third parties?

a) Principle

We may need to use the services of third parties or affiliated companies and commission them to process your data (so-called processors). The categories of recipients are as follows:

• Accounting, fiduciary and auditing company;

• Consultancy firms (legal advice, taxes, etc.);

• IT service provider (web hosting, support, cloud services, website design, etc.);

• Payment service provider;

• Provider of tracking, conversion and advertising services.

We ensure that data is only passed on with your express consent, unless it involves order data processing. We also ensure that these third parties and our affiliated companies comply with data protection requirements and treat your personal data confidentially. Under certain circumstances, we may also be obliged to disclose your personal data to authorities.

b) Passing on to partners and co-operation companies

We sometimes work together with different companies and partners who place their offers on our web-site. It is recognisable to you that this is a third-party offer (marked as "advertising").

If you take advantage of such an offer, we will transfer your personal data to the relevant partner or co-operation company (e.g. name, function, communication, etc.) whose offer you wish to take advantage of. These partners and co-operation companies are independently responsible for the personal data they receive. Once the data has been transmitted, the data protection provisions of the respective part-ner apply.

c) Transfer abroad

Under certain circumstances, your personal data may be transferred to companies abroad as part of order processing. These companies are obliged to protect data to the same extent as we are. The transfer may take place worldwide.

If the level of data protection does not correspond to that of the EEA area, we carry out a prior risk assessment and contractually ensure that the same level of protection is guaranteed as in the EEA area (e.g. by means of the standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission or other legally prescribed measures). If our risk assessment is negative, we will take additional technical measures to protect your data. You can access the EU Commission's standard contractual clauses at the following link.

How long do we store your data?

We only store personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the individual purposes for which the da-ta was collected.

We store contract data for longer, as we are obliged to do so by law. In particular, we must store business communications, concluded contracts and accounting documents for up to 10 years. If we no longer need such data from you to provide the services, the data will be restricted for further processing and we will only use it for accounting and tax purposes.

Individual data processing operations

Provision of the website and creation of log files

If you merely visit our websites, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise disclose information, only the data that your browser automatically transmits to our server will be collected. The data is technically necessary for the operation of the website.

What data do we process?

The following data in particular is processed for the provision of the website and the creation of log files:

• Name of the internet service provider

• IP address

• Technical information such as browser, operating system or screen resolution

• the date and time of access

• Referrer URL

This data cannot be assigned to a specific person and is not merged with other data sources.

For what purpose do we process the data?

The log files are processed in order to guarantee the functionality of the website and to ensure the security of our information technology systems.

Who do we pass the data on to?

The forwarding of data by us is based on our statements on data forwarding.

How can you prevent data processing?

The data is only stored for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected. Accordingly, the data is deleted at the end of each session. The storage of log files is absolutely necessary for the operation of the website; you therefore have no option to object to this unless you do not visit our website.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. Cookies are text files that are stored on the operating system of your device with the help of the browser when you visit our website. Cookies do not cause any damage to your computer and do not contain viruses. Some cookies are technically necessary for the website to function. Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies". They are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Other cookies remain stored on your end device until you delete them or their expiry date.

For what purpose do we process the data?

We use cookies so that we can use the data collected to make our website more user-friendly, effective and secure. In particular, we use cookies to save your preferences (e.g. language and location set-tings), to ensure the fast provision and attractive presentation of website content (e.g. through the use of fonts and content delivery networks) and to analyse the use of this website for statistical evaluation and continuous improvement (usually using third-party cookies). The purposes for which we use the (technically unnecessary) cookies in detail can be found in the following explanations in this privacy policy.

Who do we pass the data on to?

The forwarding of data by us is governed by our statements on data forwarding. In addition, the following information on individual data processing in this privacy policy must be observed.

How can you prevent data processing?

Cookies are stored on your computer. You can delete them completely or deactivate or restrict their transfer by changing the settings in your browser. If you deactivate cookies for our website, you may no longer be able to use all of the website's functions to their full extent.

Instructions for the most common browsers can be found here:

• For Chrome from Google

• For Safari from Apple

• For Edge from Microsoft

• For Firefox from Mozilla

For cookies that are used to measure success and reach or for advertising, a general objection ("opt-out") is possible for numerous services via the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), YourAdChoices (Digital Advertising Alliance) or Your Online Choices (European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance, EDAA).

Tracking pixel

We may use tracking pixels on our website or in our emails. Tracking pixels are also known as web beacons. Tracking pixels are small, usually invisible images that are automatically retrieved when you visit our website or open our emails.

What data do we process?

Counting pixels can be used to collect the same data as log files. In addition, movement profiles of the entire session can be collected. In particular, tracking pixels are used by third parties whose services we use. Detailed information about these third-party services is provided below in this statement.

For what purpose do we process the data?

Tracking pixels are used by various tracking services to analyse the use of this website and for statistical evaluation and continuous improvement. Tracking pixels can also be used for email tracking.

Who do we pass the data on to?

The transfer of data by us is based on our statements on data transfer. Please also note the information in this privacy policy on the individual tracking services.

How can you prevent data processing?

To prevent data processing using tracking pixels, you can install suitable browser extensions such as uBlockOrigin and block external graphics in your e-mail programme or by not giving your consent for processing.

Google Web Fonts

How does Google Web Fonts work?

We use so-called web fonts on our website for the uniform display of fonts, which are provided by Google. When you call up one of our pages, your browser loads the required web fonts into your browser cache in order to display texts and fonts correctly.

What information do you share with us and how is it used?

The browser you use establishes a connection to Google's servers. This enables Google to know that our website has been accessed via your IP address. If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font is used by your computer.

Why are we allowed to use Google Web Fonts?

Google Web Fonts are used in the interest of a uniform and appealing presentation of our online offers. For more information on Google Web Fonts, see the Google Web Fonts FAQs: https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq

Vercel

Vercel is a cloud platform used for hosting and deploying websites or web applications. It offers a serverless, static site hosting solution that uses intelligent caching and automatic scaling to ensure fast and secure global delivery of websites. Vercel also provides tools for collaboration and team management, as well as integrations with various popular frameworks and tools for building modern web applications. It is often used by developers and teams to speed up the deployment process and improve website performance.

Fathom

Fathom is typically used on a website to collect and evaluate statistical data about visitors and user behaviour on the website. This can help to better understand visitor behaviour and optimise the website accordingly. Possible applications of Fathom on a website include analysing visitor numbers, monitoring page views and clicks, determining the popularity of certain pages or content, and recording dwell times and bounce rates. The data collected can help to improve the user experience on the website and target marketing strategies more effectively.

Cloudinary

Cloudinary is used on websites to manage, optimise and deliver media content such as images, videos and PDF documents. It is essentially a cloud-based media management service that enables website operators to process and deliver their digital media quickly and effectively, regardless of file size or user device.

The main applications of Cloudinary on websites include:

1. Storage of media content: Cloudinary offers a cloud-based content delivery network (CDN) where website operators can securely store their media content. This reduces the load on their own servers and can improve website loading times.

2. Media optimisation: Cloudinary offers various tools for optimising media content. This includes automatic resizing, format conversion, compression and editing of images to ensure they are displayed quickly and optimally.

PrivacyBee

We use PrivacyBee on our website, a service provided by PrivacyBee AG, Laupenstrasse 1, 3008 Bern, Switzerland. PrivacyBee is used to recognize all data protection-relevant services and to generate an individual privacy policy for the website.

What data do we process?

PrivacyBee is a service for generating data protection declarations, which are then integrated into our website via JavaScript. The following data is processed for the provision of this service:

• IP address

• Browser type and version

• Operating system

• Date and time of access to our privacy policy

For what purpose do we process the data?

The collection of this data enables us to display the privacy policy correctly on your end device configuration and to ensure that the content is correct and up to date.

Who do we share the data with?

The transfer of data by us is based on our statements on data transfer. The data collected through the use of PrivacyBee remains with PrivacyBee.

How can you prevent the processing of your data?

To prevent PrivacyBee from processing your data, you can disable JavaScript in your browser. Please note, however, that if you deactivate JavaScript, you may not be able to use all the functions of our website to their full extent. We do not offer a specific opt-out option for the PrivacyBee service itself, as the service is essential for the provision of our privacy policy.

Does our privacy policy always remain the same?

We may change this privacy policy at any time. The changes will be published on all our websites, you will not be informed separately.

Last update on 23 July 2025