Privacy Statement

We collect personal information from people who are connected to our activities, including donors and supporters, collaborators, research study and clinical trial participants, committee members, job and placement applicants, volunteers, case study participants, ambassadors and advocates, suppliers and service providers.

The information we collect from our donors and supporters also includes information to process your donation and send you a receipt, accessibility or dietary information relating to event attendance, and/or activities that you have indicated you may be interested in being involved with.

We may also collect personal information including work experience and references in connection with the processing of scholarships or when we are canvassing for the recruitment of staff, students, and volunteers.

If you are participating in a research study or clinical trial, we may collect personal or health information.

We collect photos, videos or stories about you if you have gone to one of our events or shared your experience in a case study. However, we do not collect such information from you without your consent.

Technical and usage data is collected so we can optimise our website site and digital offerings to you. We may collect information about your internet protocol (IP) address, login data related to our systems and/or services, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, the devices you use to access our site and services, and how you navigate our website and services.

This can include information about which pages you view and how you reach them, what you do when you visit a page, the length of time you remain on the page, and how we perform in providing content to you.

We may also collect information such as your IP address, the type of internet browser or device you use, a website you have come to our site from, and your operating system. A cookie does not identify individuals personally, but it does identify computers.

We use this information to make improvements to our website and our services and to enhance your overall experience. Most computer and some mobile web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can customise/reject the use of cookies in our pop-up consent disclaimer or can adjust your browser to notify you each time a cookie is set or to block and delete cookies from your browser. For more information, see our Cookie Policy.

We use Google Analytics features based on remarketing, Google Analytics demographics, and interest reporting. These features use first-party and third-party cookies to inform and optimise content based on your past visits to our site.

We also use pixel tracking, which indicates when your computer has visited pages on our websites where a pixel has been installed. As with cookies, this does not identify you personally, only the device you are using. 

Google Analytics informs us of how visitors use our site based on your browsing habits, so that we can improve our site to make it easier for you to find the information you are seeking. Google also receives this information as you browse our site and other websites on the Google Display Network using remarketing.

If you would like to opt-out of customised Google Display Network services and Google Analytics for Display Advertising you can use Ad Settings. You can also use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on so you are not tracked in Google Analytics.

The Bionics Institute will take reasonable steps to ensure that overseas organisations handle your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.

The organisations to which we disclose personal information may include but is not limited to the USA, United Kingdom, and countries within the European Union.

Third parties

We may disclose Personal Information with vendors or service providers retained in the connection with the provision of the site or Bionics Institute services.

This includes, but is not limited to, those providing website and data hosting services; distributing communications and supporting or updating marketing lists; organising and managing events; facilitating feedback on our services; or providing IT support services.

These organisations (which may include third-party suppliers, agents, subcontractors, and/or other affiliates) will only use your information to the extent necessary to perform their support functions.

Prior to disclosing any of your Personal Information to any other organisation, we will take reasonable steps to satisfy ourselves that the organisation has a commitment to the protection of your Personal Information at least equal to our commitment, and not use the information for any purpose except that contractually agreed upon.

Your consent to the disclosure may be implied from your actions in requesting services from us. We will aim to obtain your written consent where appropriate.

You have the right to know how we will disclose your Personal Information to others. If you would like to discuss our processes, please contact the Bionics Institute Privacy Officer.

Additional information for donors

If you make a donation to us, we may publish your name in our Annual Report or other Bionics Institute publications. We may also communicate your name and the amount of your donation internally, including to our Board members, to the project team to which you have donated, and/or to our external partner(s) who organise the fundraising event or collaborate on the project for which you have made a donation.

If you wish to remain anonymous in our publications or in our communications with our Board members, the third party fundraiser or collaborators, please tick the optional ‘anonymous’ box when making a donation. Alternatively, you can advise us of this in writing by contacting the Bionics Institute Privacy Officer (see contact details at the bottom of the Privacy Statement) or emailing the Philanthropy Team

With your consent or otherwise in accordance with privacy laws, the Bionics Institute may share data with like-minded organisations who may contact you with information that may be of interest, and these organisations allow us to do the same. This is solely for the purpose of advancing our mission by reaching more caring supporters like yourself, and to help support similar causes aligned with our values. Some of the third parties described above conduct all or part of their business overseas (e.g. in United States and United Kingdom) and so your personal information may be transferred overseas as a result.

You will be given a simple means to opt-out of receiving such offers. However, if you do take advantage of any offer from a third-party organisation, they will then be able to send further offers to you directly. If you do not wish to be part of this information sharing or receive communications from those organisations, you can also advise us of this in writing by contacting the Bionics Institute Privacy Officer (contact details at the bottom of the Privacy Statement) oremailing the Philanthropy Team

This can include, but is not limited to, social media profile details; information submitted to create a profile or account login; information contained in comments posted in a webinar chat; questions/statements submitted during a Q&A session; or donations made in support of Bionics Institute research.

You should exercise caution when using public forums and we are not responsible for the use of any Personal Information by third parties that you publicly post. The use of the information by these sites and/or services are governed by their privacy policies, and we do not control their use of shared data.

Personal Information collected by the Bionics Institute is stored securely on the Bionics Institute’s IT systems and/or third-party software and platforms. These systems are protected with multiple layers of security measures, plus multifactor authentication where possible.

We take all reasonable steps to protect your Personal Information from misuse, interference, and loss, as well as unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.

Online payment transactions are conducted through our PCI-compliant secure payment solutions providers Stripe, Blackbaud Merchant Services, and Paypal. For additional information on how these providers secure your payment card information during transmission and storage, please refer to their websites.

When payment information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. Moreover, credit card numbers are not retained by Bionics Institute once processed and reconciled.

However, no electronic data transmission or storage of information can be guaranteed to be completely secure or error-free. While the security of your information is of the utmost importance to us, we cannot warrant or guarantee the security of any Personal Information transmitted to our site or services. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk.

Credit card numbers are not retained by Bionics Institute once a donation has been processed and reconciled.

When you let us know of a change to your Personal Information, we will update our records as soon as practicable.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request. Subject to any applicable exceptions or requirements, we will respond to your request within a reasonable time and usually within 30 days. If we decide to refuse your request, we will generally tell you why in writing (unless this would be unreasonable) and how to complain.

We may then request that you provide written confirmation of the details of your complaint to us.

If you are not satisfied with our handling of any complaint, you may contact the office of the Privacy Commissioner Victoria, Level 11, 10-16 Queen Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000.