We recognise that you have an interest in our collection and use of your personal information via our website or provided to us via email or the completion of forms. We have implemented this Privacy Policy in order to be open and transparent about how we collect, hold, and use your personal information, and under what circumstances we may disclose or transfer your personal information. The Privacy Policy also outlines your rights to gain access to, and seek corrections of, your personal information we hold. Finally, the Privacy Policy provides information about how you can approach us about your privacy-related concerns and complaints, and how we will deal with such communications.
This policy applies only to information that AIMS collects via this website, emails and forms.
Information we collect and hold
Wherever possible, you can elect to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym in interacting with us e.g. when making an enquiry.
Should you wish to apply for a fellowship, you will be required to supply personal information which may include your name, address, date of birth, telephone number or e-mail address, education, work experience and training.
Should you be accepted for a fellowship, we will be required to obtain other information from you for the purposes of preparing your regulatory applications on your behalf an arranging your visa sponsorship. These details may include information on your health, criminal record and/or membership of professional medical associations. Under no circumstances will we request any information from you that may disclose your political, religious or philosophical opinions, beliefs, associations or affiliations, sexuality or racial or ethnic origin.
If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received online, mail, and telephone. This also applies when you register on our website, sign up through any of our forms using your email address or make an application for a position. For further information see the email policies below.
Personal information via the Website
Similar to other commercial websites, our website utilises a standard technology called “cookies” and server logs to collect information about how our site is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our site, and the websites visited just before and just after our own, as well as your IP address.
A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.
If you would prefer not to receive cookies, you can alter your security settings on your web browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used. However, by disabling the cookie function in your web browser you may impede your ability to use parts of the Website.
Third Party Uses of Cookies
Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.
We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.
Email Policies
We are committed to keeping your e-mail address confidential. We do not sell, rent, or lease our subscription lists to third parties, and will not disclose your email address to any third parties except as required to further your selection for a medical fellowship, facilitate the fellowship, obtain medical registrations or for visa requirements.
We will maintain the information you send via e-mail in accordance with applicable federal law.
All e-mails sent from our organisation will clearly state who the e-mail is from and provide clear information on how to contact the sender. In addition, all e-mail messages will also contain concise information on how to remove yourself from our mailing list so that you receive no further e-mail communication from us.
How and why we collect information
AIMS collects your information in order to provide information on medical fellowships we offer and to facilitate the selection of and Australian medical registration and visa sponsorship of medical fellows.
We use this information to provide services to the medical professionals.
As a visitor to this Website, you can view public pages without providing any personal information. It is only when you seek to download resources and/or register for services or apply for a fellowship position that you are required to provide information.
How do we use the information that you provide to us?
We use personal information for purposes of offering medical fellowships to suitable applicants, selecting suitable medical fellowships and in order to provide the necessary information to the medical registration authorities (including AHPRA and RACS) and the Department of Home Affairs. The information is required in order to administer our business activities and provide client service.
Your option not to provide your personal information
Providing us with your personal information is absolutely optional, but may be necessary for us to provide you with our services. Whenever it is optional for you to provide us with non-essential personal information, we will make this clear to you. When you provide us with your personal information, you are consenting to our storage, use and disclosure of that information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.
Use and disclosure of your personal information
When we hold your personal information it will be used for the following primary purposes:
- to provide information to prospective fellows on the medical fellowships offered;
- to complete the medical registration requirements at AHPRA and RACS for the fellowship applicants and arrange visa sponsorship; and
- to ensure the proper functioning of the AIMS fellowship service.
We will not use or disclose (or permit the use or disclosure of) information that could be used to identify an individual member in any circumstances except:
- to ensure the proper functioning of our business;
- where the information is required by a medical registration authority or other medical body in order for you to obtain your medical registrations and properly perform the requirements of your fellowship;
- where the information is required by the Dept of Home Affairs in order to obtain your sponsorship and visa;
- where the law requires us, or authorises us, or a company holding data on our behalf, to do so; or
- where you have given express consent to us for a prescribed purpose.
We will not sell, distribute, rent, licence, disclose, share or pass your personal information onto any third parties, other than those who are contracted to us to keep the information confidential whether subject to a statute or a scheme which imposes similar restrictions to the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), as amended, regarding the handling of personal information.
Should a third party approach us with a demand to access your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to redirect the third party to request the information directly from you, wherever it is lawful and reasonable for us to do so.
If we are compelled to disclose your personal information, to a third party we will take reasonable steps to notify you of this in advance, wherever it is lawful and reasonable for us to do so.
Security of personal information
In our business, personal information may be stored both electronically and in hard-copy form. We are committed to keeping your personal information secure regardless of the format in which we hold it and we take all reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. However, you use the website at your own risk and we accept no responsibility, whether we are deemed to have been negligent or not, in the event of a security that affects your privacy.
Note that no information transmitted over the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, we will endeavour to protect your personal information as best as possible but we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us, or receive from us. The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk.
We employ commercially reasonable methods to ensure the security of the information you provide to us and the information we collect automatically. This includes using standard security protocols and working only with reputable third-party vendors.
Email is not recognised as a secure medium of communication. For this reason, we request that you do not send private information to us by email. However, doing so is allowed, but at your own risk. Some of the information you may enter on our website may be transmitted securely via a secure medium known as Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL. Credit Card information and other sensitive information is never transmitted via email.
Accuracy and quality of personal information
We will take all such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that:
- all information collected from you is kept accurate, up to date and complete; and
- the personal information that we use or disclose is, having regard to the purpose of the use or disclosure, accurate, up-to-date, complete and relevant.
Access to your personal information
In most cases, you have the right to access the personal information that we hold about you. If you wish to access your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer at admin@aimsresearh.com.au.
We will deal with all requests for access to personal information as quickly as possible. Requests for a large amount of information, or information which is not currently in use, may require further time before a response can be given.
We may charge you a reasonable fee for access if a cost is incurred by us in order to retrieve your information, but in no case will we charge you a fee for your application for access.
Whenever a fee will be applied, you will be notified of how that fee will be calculated, or where possible, the total amount that will be charged. You will then have the option to decide whether to proceed with your access request.
In some cases, we will refuse to give you access to personal information we hold about you. This includes, but is not limited to, circumstances where denying access is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court/tribunal order or where giving you access would: be unlawful; have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy; prejudice an investigation of unlawful activity; reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you so as to prejudice those negotiations; prejudice enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body; reveal evaluative information generated within AIMS in connection with a commercially sensitive decision-making process.
We will also refuse access where the personal information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings, and the information would not be accessible by the process of discovery in those proceedings. Further, we will refuse access where your request is frivolous or vexatious, and where we reasonably believe that: giving access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or public safety; unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, is being or may be engaged in against Undercover Architect and giving access would be likely to prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to that matter.
If we refuse to give you access we will provide you with reasons for our refusal, unless doing so would be unreasonable in the circumstances. We will also take reasonable steps to give you access in a way that meets your needs without giving rise to the reasons of our refusal. Further, we will provide details of how you may make a complaint about our decision.
These mechanisms for accessing your personal information operate alongside, and do not replace, other informal or legal procedures by which you may be provided with access to your personal information.
Correction of your personal information
The accuracy of the personal information we have requested from you is important to us. Should you suspect, or become aware of, that your personal information we hold is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete or misleading, please contact our Privacy Officer at admin@aimsreseach.com.au.
We will deal with all requests for correction of personal information as quickly as possible. Requests relating to a large amount of information, or information which is not currently in use, may require further time before a response can be given.
If we refuse to change the personal information as you request, we will provide you with reasons for our refusal, unless doing so would be unreasonable in the circumstances. We will also provide details of how you may make a complaint about our decision. Further, in case of our refusal, you may request that we take reasonable steps to associate, with the relevant information, a statement that you view it as inaccurate, out of date, incomplete or misleading.
In the case we have corrected personal information about you, you may request that we take reasonable steps to give notice of the correction to any third party to which we have disclosed the inaccurate, out of date, incomplete or misleading personal information.
These mechanisms for correcting your personal information operate alongside, and do not replace, other informal or legal procedures by which you may be provided correction of your personal information.
Overseas transfer of personal information
We may transfer your personal information to overseas recipients. However, we will seek your consent prior to disclosing your information if the overseas recipient is not regulated in a way that equally reflects the Australian Privacy Principles. We will take reasonable steps to ensure an overseas recipient does not breach the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Concerns and complaints about breaches
If you have concerns about how we handle your personal information, it is important that you notify us as soon as possible, so that we can address your concerns appropriately as the circumstances require. Any concern or complaint should be made in writing. Please send it to our Privacy Officer at admin@aimsresearch.com.au and will respond as soon as reasonably possible. Alternatively you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner with your concern. Information about lodging a complaint is available on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website (see in particular: http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints).
Disposal of personal information not required
If we hold personal information about you, and we do not need that information for any purpose for which the information may be used or disclosed, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify that information unless we are prevented from doing so by law.
Visitors’ GDPR Rights
If you are within the European Union, you are entitled to certain information and have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation. Those rights include:
We will retain the any information you choose to provide to us until the earlier of:
(a) you asking us to delete the information;
(b) our decision to cease using our existing data providers; or
(c) AIMS decides that the value in retaining the data is outweighed by the costs of retaining it.
You have the right to request access to your data that AIMS stores and the rights to either rectify or erase your personal data.
You have the right to seek restrictions on the processing of your data.
You have the right to object to the processing of your data and the right to the portability of your data.
To the extent that you provided consent to AIMS’ processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based upon consent that occurred prior to your withdrawal of consent.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority that has jurisdiction over issues related to the General Data Protection Regulation.
We require only the information that is reasonably required to enter into a contract with you. We will not require you to provide consent for any unnecessary processing as a condition of entering into a contract with us.
Contacting us
If you have any questions, concerns or ideas about how we could improve our Website Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer at admin@aimsresearch.com.au. Where you provide suggestions, materials or feedback it is considered non-confidential and we may, at our complete discretion, use it to improve the Website, service and/or how we handle personal information without any obligation to compensate you regardless of how we use, implement, copy, modify, display, distribute and/or otherwise benefit from your suggestions, materials or feedback.
Amendments of this Privacy Policy
We are obligated to regularly review and update this policy. We therefore reserve the right to amend this Website Privacy Policy at any time. Should any significant amendments occur, notification will be provided by publication on the Website 14 days prior to the changes being implemented (the Notice Period) unless the circumstances of the amendments makes it unreasonable to provide such a Notice Period. Your continued use after the Notice Period has lapsed indicates your consent to be bound by the amended Website Privacy Policy.
For further information about privacy in general, please refer to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website located at http://www.oaic.gov.au.
Privacy Policy last updated on 25 May 2018.