Privacy Policy

Protecting the "Knowledge Lifecycle" and the Privacy of Our Global Community.

1. Introduction

The African Institute in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIIKS) UNESCO C2C, headquartered at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), is committed to safeguarding the personal and cultural data of our users. This policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect information in alignment with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and international data standards.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in the following ways:

  • Personal Identification: Names, email addresses, and contact details provided via membership forms or inquiries.
  • Research Data: Information shared during collaborative innovation or "Living Laboratory" participation.
  • Technical Data: IP addresses, request logs, and cookies as described in Section 3 below.

3. Cookies & Similar Technologies

We keep cookie use to a minimum and do not use analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies. When you first visit, a banner lets you choose between two options:

  • Necessary Only (the default until you choose otherwise): only the cookies required for the site to function are set. These are a session cookie used to keep you logged in where applicable, protect our forms against forgery (CSRF protection), and remember flash/confirmation messages between pages, plus a cookie that simply remembers your consent choice for 12 months. Under this choice, any embedded YouTube videos on our pages load in YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com), which does not set YouTube cookies unless you actively press play.
  • Accept All: in addition to the necessary cookies above, embedded YouTube videos load on YouTube's standard domain, which may set YouTube's own cookies once you interact with a video. We do not currently run any additional analytics or advertising cookies of our own, but this is the setting that would be required before we could introduce any in future — no such cookie will be set without you first choosing "Accept All."

Your choice is remembered for 12 months in a first-party cookie so the banner does not reappear on every visit. You can change your mind at any time by clearing your browser's cookies for this site, which will bring the banner back on your next visit.

4. Server & Access Logs

Separately from cookies, our hosting server automatically records standard web server logs for every visit — including IP address, date and time, pages requested, and browser/user-agent — regardless of your cookie choice above. This is a routine function of the underlying server infrastructure (not a script or cookie we control) and is used solely for security, troubleshooting, and detecting abuse of the site. These logs are retained for a limited period consistent with that purpose and are not used to build marketing profiles or shared with third parties for advertising purposes.

5. Search & Site Performance Tools

We use Google Search Console to understand how people find our site through Google Search (for example, which search terms lead here and how often pages appear in results). This relies on aggregate data from Google and does not involve placing tracking cookies on your device through our site. We do not currently use on-site behavioural analytics, heatmaps, or session-recording tools.

6. Protection Against Biopiracy

In line with our mandate for Epistemic Justice, AIIKS takes extraordinary measures to ensure that indigenous knowledge shared through this platform is protected from biopiracy and unauthorized commercial exploitation. Data shared by knowledge holders is treated as "Sovereign Intellectual Property."

7. Use of Information

Your information is used to:

  • Facilitate the "Hub and Nodes" research network.
  • Update members on UNESCO C2C programmatic pillars.
  • Validate and archive oral histories and traditional pharmacopoeia securely.

8. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell your personal data. Data may only be shared with our 30+ authorized research nodes across Africa under strict confidentiality agreements designed to protect African scholarship and community rights.

9. Your Rights

Under South African law, you have the right to access, correct, or request the deletion of your personal information. You may contact our data officer at UKZN for any privacy-related inquiries.