The Society of Geophysicists & Computational Geoscientists ("SGCG", "we", "us") respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal data we collect through sgcg.org.ng, why we collect it, and how we handle it. It is written in plain language — if anything is unclear, email sgcg.convener@gmail.com and we will explain.

1. What we collect

• Account & membership data — full name, title, email, phone, date of birth, gender, qualification, institution, specialisation, address, year of graduation or experience, and supporting documents (ID card, certificates, CV) you upload during registration.
• Endorser data — the two existing SGCG member IDs you provide when activating your account. We verify these against our member database.
• Payment data — amounts, reference IDs, and the date/time of membership-dues or conference-registration payments. We do not store your card details. Payments are processed by Paystack, which is PCI-DSS compliant.
• Conference registration — the name, email, phone, affiliation, country, and category you submit when registering for GEOSPECTRUM.
• Abstract submissions — corresponding author details, co-author details, institution, ORCID iD, sub-theme, and the abstract document itself.
• Engagement forms — the name, email, affiliation, and message you submit through our volunteer, partner, or sponsor forms.
• Newsletter — the email address you subscribe with.
• Technical data — minimal server logs (IP address, timestamps, request paths) kept for security and debugging.

2. Why we collect it

• Membership administration — to verify your identity, issue your member ID, manage annual dues, and contact you about your account.
• Abstract review — to evaluate your submission for the conference and notify you of the outcome.
• Conference operations — to register you, confirm your payment, send your ticket details, and plan logistics.
• Society communications — event invitations, conference updates, newsletters, and renewal reminders. You can opt out at any time.
• Legal & accounting — to comply with Nigerian tax and financial-record obligations.

3. Legal basis (NDPA)

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023, our legal bases for processing are: (a) contract — delivering the SGCG membership you signed up for; (b) legitimate interest — running the Society and its events; (c) consent — for newsletters and optional communications; and (d) legal obligation — for financial records.

4. How we share your data

We share data only when necessary to operate the Society:

• Paystack — your name, email, and amount, so they can process your payment. Their privacy policy governs that data.
• Email service provider — to deliver account, receipt, and newsletter emails. Providers are chosen based on reliability; we do not sell addresses to them.
• SGCG officers — authorised executives access member, abstract, and registration data through the admin portal, strictly for Society duties.
• Legal requirement — if compelled by a lawful order from a Nigerian court or regulator.

We do not sell your data to advertisers or third-party brokers.

5. How we protect it

• Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. We never see your plaintext password.
• Payment card details never touch our servers — Paystack handles the checkout.
• Administrative access to member data is limited to a small, fixed set of authorised SGCG officers.
• The site is served over HTTPS.

6. Data retention

• Member records — kept while your account is active and for up to 7 years after you leave the Society, for financial & audit records.
• Conference registrations — kept indefinitely as part of the Society's historical record of its events.
• Abstract submissions — kept indefinitely as part of the Society's scholarly archive.
• Newsletter subscriptions — kept until you unsubscribe. Unsubscribe is instantly honoured via the link in every email.
• Abandoned registrations — if you start conference registration but never complete payment, your details remain on file until you return to finish, or we periodically prune them.

7. Your rights

Under the NDPA you may:

• Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Ask us to correct inaccurate data (you can also edit most profile fields yourself)
• Ask us to delete data we no longer need to keep
• Withdraw consent for marketing communications at any time
• Complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC)

Email sgcg.convener@gmail.com to exercise any of these rights. We will respond within a reasonable time and at most within 30 days.

8. Children

The Society and its services are intended for people who are at minimum undergraduates. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

9. Cookies & similar technology

We use only essential cookies required to keep you signed in and to protect against CSRF attacks. We do not currently use third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies. If that changes we will update this policy.

10. Changes to this policy

We may revise this policy occasionally. Material changes will be announced to members by email before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision.

11. Contact

Society of Geophysicists & Computational Geoscientists
Email: sgcg.convener@gmail.com
Website: sgcg.org.ng