Privacy policy

Version: 3 August 2026 (version 2026-08-v10)

Diese Erklärung auf Deutsch · Cette politique en français

This is an English translation of our German privacy policy, provided for the convenience of the participants of our English-language surveys. It has the same content and is kept in sync version by version, but the German version at /datenschutzerklaerung is the legally binding one; in case of any discrepancy the German wording prevails.

1. Controller

The controller within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:

Mathieu Meleux
Deidesheimer Weg 17
67454 Haßloch
Germany
Email: contact@welovescientists.com

Full provider identification (§ 5 DDG): Impressum (German).

No data protection officer has been appointed, as there is no legal obligation to do so.

2. Principles: no cookies, no tracking

This website sets no cookies for visitors and uses no analytics or tracking services. No third-party content (fonts, scripts, videos, CDNs) is loaded; all content is served from our own server. A cookie banner is therefore not required.

While filling in the surveys you can choose to have your progress saved locally in your browser (localStorage), so that nothing is lost if you close the window. The checkbox for it is not pre-ticked: nothing is stored on your device unless you switch it on yourself. The legal basis is your consent under § 25 (1) TDDDG.

This data is not a cookie, never leaves your browser and is not transmitted to us; your choice itself is likewise stored only locally. You can withdraw the consent at any time by unticking the box — the saved draft is then deleted immediately. Submitting the survey deletes both the draft and the choice.

3. Hosting and server logs

This website runs on a virtual server (VPS) that we rent from Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany, and administer ourselves; the server is located in a Hetzner data center in Germany. On the processing agreement, see section 7.

When the website is accessed, the server processes technically necessary connection data (page requested, time, HTTP status, amount of data transferred). IP addresses are stored in the server logs in anonymized form: the last group of digits is removed, so the address can no longer be traced to a connection. The logs are deleted after 7 days at the latest. No IP addresses and no user agents are stored in the application database.

The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in the secure and stable operation of the website).

4. Contact form and email contact

When you contact us via the contact form or by email, we process the data you provide (name, email address, content of the message) to handle your request. Messages sent via the form are stored in our database and delivered to us by email; dispatch and mailbox are with the same German provider (see section 7).

Legal basis: consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR) and legitimate interest in answering inquiries (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). Deletion as soon as no longer required for processing, at the latest 12 months after the correspondence is concluded.

5. Surveys (market research)

The sole purpose of processing is market research. The legal basis is consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR) given via a checkbox that is never pre-ticked. The wording of the consent is stored in versioned form (timestamp and text version).

• The survey answers contain no mandatory personal details; IP address and user agent are not stored.
• The optional email address (results benchmark) is stored separately from the answers, linked only by a random identifier, and used exclusively for sending the results.
• Anyone who additionally consents may be contacted by us by email for a short conversation about their survey answers. This consent is separate from the results benchmark, voluntary and withdrawable at any time (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR); withholding it has no disadvantages. The address is used exclusively for this contact and deleted at the latest 6 months after collection.
• After the evaluation is completed, the raw data is anonymized (deletion of the contact data) — standard period: at the latest 6 months after collection.
• The surveys are offered in German, English, and French. For each response we store the language in which the survey and the consent text were displayed (proof of consent, Art. 7 (1) GDPR).
• When a new response arrives, our team receives a short internal notification email (time, survey and response identifier). This email contains neither the answers nor any email address that may have been provided.

Withdrawal at any time with effect for the future (an email to contact@welovescientists.com suffices); complete deletion on request.

6. Newsletter (double opt-in)

Double opt-in procedure: after signing up, a confirmation email is sent; only after clicking the confirmation link is the address added to the list. Sign-up and confirmation are logged with timestamps (proof, Art. 7 (1) GDPR). Legal basis: consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR).

• We also store the language in which the consent text was displayed at sign-up (proof, Art. 7 (1) GDPR). The newsletter itself is published in German.
• Unconfirmed sign-ups are automatically deleted after 30 days.
• Every newsletter email contains a personal unsubscribe link that remains valid permanently; you can unsubscribe at any time and without giving reasons. The link is derived cryptographically from an internal identifier and is not stored in addition.
• Newsletter issues are sent as plain text with no tracking pixels. We send through our own mailbox: there is no open or click tracking, and links are not rewritten through counting or redirect services. We therefore do not record whether, when or what you clicked in an email.
• Storage until unsubscription; no use for other purposes.

7. Recipients and processors

We use the following service providers as processors (Art. 28 GDPR) — providers that process the data only on our behalf and on our instructions, and may not use it for their own purposes:

• Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany — hosting of the website and the application database.
• STRATO GmbH, Otto-Ostrowski-Straße 7, 10249 Berlin, Germany — hosting of our mailbox and dispatch of our outgoing email (delivery of contact form messages to us, notifications, newsletter confirmations and newsletter dispatch). Messages from the contact form and replies to emails are held there in our mailbox; processing takes place on servers in Germany.

A data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR is in place with every provider listed above.

Both providers are German companies and process the data on servers in Germany. Where a provider uses further service providers in third countries — countries outside the EU and the EEA — this happens only on the basis of appropriate safeguards under Art. 44 et seq. GDPR (in particular the EU standard contractual clauses).

8. Our LinkedIn page

We operate a company page on the professional network LinkedIn (LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland). When you visit that page, LinkedIn processes personal data about you and provides us with aggregated statistics on how the page is used (“Page Insights”).

For these statistics we are a joint controller together with LinkedIn (Art. 26 GDPR). LinkedIn provides the corresponding arrangement, under which it takes primary responsibility for processing the insights data and for handling data subject rights. On our side the legal basis is our legitimate interest in presenting ourselves publicly and reaching researchers (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

We receive no raw data, only aggregated evaluations, and cannot identify individual visitors from them. We have no influence over LinkedIn’s own processing — for advertising, say, or for your LinkedIn profile — and LinkedIn also processes data outside the EU. Details and your options are in LinkedIn’s privacy policy.

You can exercise your rights both with us (contact@welovescientists.com) and directly with LinkedIn. For the insights data, please contact LinkedIn directly, since only they hold the underlying data.

This website embeds no LinkedIn content. The links to LinkedIn profiles on our team pages are plain links — a connection to LinkedIn is only made when you click one.

9. Retention periods (overview)

• Server logs of our website (anonymized): max. 7 days
• Technical logs of our service providers: as specified by them; up to 6 months for the email hosting
• Contact inquiries: until resolved, max. 12 months
• Survey data: anonymization after evaluation, standard max. 6 months
• Newsletter: until withdrawal; unconfirmed sign-ups 30 days

10. Your rights

You have the following rights in relation to us. An informal email to contact@welovescientists.com is enough for any of them.

• Access (Art. 15) — we tell you which data about you we hold, where it came from, what we process it for and who we pass it on to; with a copy on request.
• Rectification (Art. 16) — we correct inaccurate details and complete incomplete ones.
• Erasure (Art. 17) — we delete your data once its purpose is gone or you withdraw your consent, unless a retention obligation applies.
• Restriction (Art. 18) — instead of deleting, we freeze the processing, for example while we check whether data is accurate.
• Data portability (Art. 20) — you receive the data you gave us in a common, machine-readable format (JSON in our case).
• Objection (Art. 21) — against processing we base on a legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR); see the separate subsection below.
• Withdrawal of consent (Art. 7 (3)) — at any time and without giving reasons.

A withdrawal takes effect for the future only: it does not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out before it (Art. 7 (3) sentence 3 GDPR).

We handle requests free of charge and normally within one month (Art. 12 (3) GDPR). Where we have reasonable doubts about the identity of the person making a request, we may ask for additional information needed to identify them (Art. 12 (6) GDPR).

Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR)

You can object at any time to processing we base on a legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). On this website that concerns the operation of the server logs (section 3), answering inquiries (section 4), and the page statistics of our LinkedIn company page (section 8). An informal email to contact@welovescientists.com is enough; we then stop the processing unless there are compelling legitimate grounds to the contrary.

Right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), in particular the authority responsible for our seat:

Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Rheinland-Pfalz, Hintere Bleiche 34, 55116 Mainz, Germany,
phone: +49 6131 8920-0, email: poststelle@datenschutz.rlp.de,
https://www.datenschutz.rlp.de

11. Obligation to provide data; automated decision-making

The website can be used without providing personal data. Information in forms is always voluntary. There is no automated decision-making including profiling (Art. 22 GDPR): no software decides about you automatically, and we build no personality profiles.