Privacy notice

MATER Medical Students Association (C.F. 91482190377, based in Bologna) is the data controller. You can reach us at secretariat@mater-msa.com.

• When you join: what you type into the sign-up form (your name, email address, year of study, the pillars you're interested in and anything you write in the message box) and whether you want our emails.
• When you register for an event: what that event's form asks, usually your name, email address, how you heard about the event, whether you want our emails and, only if you choose to tell us, any allergies or dietary needs.
• When you write to us: your email address and your message.

We use your details only for these purposes:

• To handle your membership request and keep the members' register, because the statute requires it (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR).
• To run an event you registered for and send you its practical updates (Article 6(1)(b)).
• To keep the records the law requires associations to keep (Article 6(1)(c)).
• To email you about meetings, events and the pillars you picked, only if you ticked the box or answered yes (consent, Article 6(1)(a)). Joining never depends on it, and you can stop the emails at any time without leaving MATER.
• To cater for allergies or dietary needs you tell us about, with your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)), and for nothing else.
• To take photos and video at events and show them on our website and social media, as a record of what the association does (legitimate interest, Article 6(1)(f)). You can object at any time: see Events below.

Each event has its own registration form, which links to this notice. We delete registrations, including any dietary details, within 30 days after the event.

Photos and video may be taken at events. If you'd rather not appear, tell the team at check-in, or write to us afterwards and we'll take down any photo of you.

We don't pass your details to sponsors or speakers. If an event ever needs to, for example so a sponsor can give you free access, its registration form will ask you first.

Sign-ups and event registrations are stored in Google Forms and Google Sheets managed by the Board of Directors (Google Ireland Limited). Emails are handled by Zoho Mail (Zoho Corporation B.V.) in its EU data centre. The website is hosted by Netlify, which keeps standard server logs, including IP addresses, for security. Only the Board of Directors can open sign-up and registration data. We never sell it, and never use it for advertising.

Google, Zoho, Netlify and Instagram may process some data outside the European Union. When they do, they rely on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

• Membership details: while you are a member, then for as long as the law requires association records to be kept.
• Event registrations, including dietary details: up to 30 days after the event.
• Email preferences: until you withdraw consent.
• Event photos: as part of the association's record, unless you ask us to take one down.
• Messages to the secretariat: up to 24 months.

You can ask us to:

• show you the details we hold about you
• correct them, or delete them
• stop using them, or give you a copy to take elsewhere
• stop using photos of you, or anything else we do on the basis of legitimate interest

You can withdraw your consent at any time; it doesn't affect what we did with your details before. To use any of these rights, email the secretariat; we answer every request within one month. You can also complain to the Italian data protection authority, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (opens in a new tab).

MATER's own pages set no cookies and run no analytics or tracking. If you accept Instagram in the cookie banner, Instagram (Meta Platforms Ireland Limited) receives your IP address when its posts load. For that moment of collection, MATER and Meta are joint controllers; what Meta does afterwards is its own responsibility. The cookie policy lists everything this site stores in your browser.