IHS Privacy Policy

The International Headache Society (IHS), 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London, EC2Y 5AU, UK, is an international membership organisation for those with a professional commitment to helping people affected by headache. As a charity, the purpose of IHS is to advance headache science, education, and management, and promote headache awareness worldwide.

It is IHS’ utmost concern to constantly improve its services in order to best meet the needs of its members. To this end, IHS may collect and store certain information, including personal data you have provided. IHS takes the privacy of your personal data very seriously in all of its business processes. This Data Privacy Statement is meant to help you understand how data are collected, processed and stored to meet legal requirements and IHS’ data privacy standards.

It will be very difficult for IHS to provide you membership services if you refuse to allow IHS to process your data. For this reason, by providing personal data to IHS, you agree to be legally bound by and explicitly consent to this Data Privacy Statement, and subsequent revisions. If you do not agree to this Data Privacy Statement or cannot form a legally binding contract, IHS will not be able to process your personal data.

1. Scope of this Data Privacy Statement

This Data Privacy Statement applies to all services offered by IHS and its subsidiary company, IHS Trading Company Ltd, which organises the IHS International Headache Congress (IHC).

This Data Privacy Statement does not apply to services offered by other companies or individuals and does not cover the information practices of other companies and organisations who advertise IHS services or any third party operating any website to which the IHS website or other digital asset may contain a link.

2. Data collected and method of collection

IHS collects general and personal data concerning you when you

  • apply for IHS membership
  • register for an IHC
  • attend an IHS educational event
  • submit an application for an IHS grant or award.

The personal data held may contain, but is not limited to:

  • name
  • gender
  • date of birth
  • address
  • telephone and fax numbers
  • email addresses
  • organisation or company of employment and/or job title
  • field of activity and/or interest.

3. Purpose of data collection

IHS uses the data collected to

  • manage our relationship with you
  • provide you with the membership benefits
  • share your data with organisations for membership services
  • include your details in the IHS website Members Directory
  • provide you with news and information about events and conferences
  • provide you with information about grant opportunities
  • produce surveys for you to participate in
  • assess whether you’re eligible or suitable for services we provide, e.g. assessing your grant application.

IHS will also use your personal data for governance purposes, as well as the operation of IHS.  We may do so to enable us to pursue our legitimate interest to manage the governance and operation of IHS.

As a member, it is necessary for IHS to share this information with various companies which provide IHS membership services:

  • the publisher of Cephalalgia and Cephalalgia Reports
  • the provider of the Cephalalgia app
  • the IHC congress organiser
  • the IHS website provider
  • IHS contracted staff
  • representatives and staff of IHS Affiliate Member Societies
  • mailing houses (to send out mailshots and membership information/news).

We may also share your personal data with other third parties as set out in paragraph 5.

4. Duration of storage

Personal data will be kept by IHS during the period of membership and for up to seven years following cessation of membership.

You may request that IHS delete your data by sending an email to [email protected].

5. Disclosure of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in paragraph 3 above.

  • Service providers and suppliers. We may provide information to service providers and suppliers who provide services to us, for example, IT services or marketing services.
  • Professional advisers and other external parties. We may provide information to our professional advisers and other external third parties, including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers, who provide professional services to us.
  • Legal, supervisory, and regulatory authorities. We may share information with legal, supervisory, and regulatory authorities and any government agencies and law enforcement bodies if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data with them.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6. Your rights

In accordance with applicable data protection laws and regulations, you have a right to request access to, rectification of your data, or restriction of processing, and to object to said processing. Members can access the personal data stored through the IHS website (Members Directory, My membership details).

If you have any questions or issues about our data processing please contact [email protected].

7. Changes

This Data Privacy Statement may be revised and updated by IHS from time to time to comply with statutory data protection and privacy laws. IHS will post any statement changes on the IHS website.

8. Contact

If you need further assistance please contact IHS.

Last updated July 2022