Privacy Notice

Last updated: September 2026

AlienLab Ltd respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Notice explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we may share it with, and the rights you have under UK data protection law.

1. Who we are

AlienLab Ltd is a private limited company registered in England and Wales.

Company name: ALIENLAB LTD
Company number: 16675808
Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ

For the purposes of UK data protection law, AlienLab Ltd is the controller of the personal information described in this notice.

For privacy-related enquiries, please contact:

Email: privacy@alienlab.co.uk

2. What information we collect

Depending on how you interact with AlienLab, we may collect:

• your name;
• email address and contact details;
• organisation, university or employer;
• professional role, research interests or areas of expertise;
• community profile information you choose to provide;
• messages, enquiries and correspondence you send to us;
• applications or submissions to AlienLab challenges, missions, projects or community programmes;
• information relating to memberships, subscriptions or services you purchase;
• transaction and billing information, although payment card details are normally processed directly by our payment provider;
• technical information such as IP address, browser type, device information and basic website/server logs;
• information you voluntarily provide through surveys, events, feedback forms or community activities.

We do not intentionally ask users to provide sensitive or special-category personal information unless there is a clear and lawful reason to do so.

3. Why we use your information

We may use personal information to:

Community

• manage community membership;
• communicate with members;
• organise challenges, open missions, events and collaborative projects;
• review applications and submissions;
• recognise contributors and community participation.

Services

• respond to enquiries;
• provide requested services;
• manage subscriptions, memberships and payments;
• communicate with customers and prospective customers;
• provide intelligence, benchmarking, technical advisory services.

Communications

• send service-related communications;
• send newsletters or other updates where you have requested them;
• respond to questions and feedback.

Website and operations

• operate, secure and improve our website;
• prevent misuse, fraud or security incidents;
• maintain business and accounting records;
• comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

4. Our lawful bases

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for using your personal information.

Depending on the activity, we may rely on the following bases:

Contract
Where processing is necessary to provide a membership, subscription, service, event registration or other arrangement you have requested.

Legitimate interests
Where processing is reasonably necessary for operating and improving AlienLab, managing our community, responding to enquiries, maintaining security, developing relationships and protecting our organisation, provided that those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Consent
Where you have actively agreed to a particular use of your information, for example subscribing to certain marketing or newsletter communications. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

Legal obligation
Where we need to process information to comply with applicable law, including tax, accounting, regulatory or legal requirements.

The lawful basis may differ depending on why we are using your information. UK data protection law requires organisations to identify an appropriate basis for each processing purpose.

5. Newsletters and communications

If you subscribe to an AlienLab newsletter or request promotional updates, we may use your contact details to send those communications.

Where consent is our lawful basis, you can unsubscribe at any time by using the unsubscribe link provided in the communication or by contacting us.

We may still send essential administrative or service communications where these are necessary to provide a service you have requested.

6. Who we share information with

We do not sell personal information.

We may use trusted third-party service providers to help operate AlienLab. Depending on the services currently enabled, these may include providers for:

• website hosting and software development infrastructure, such as GitHub;
• email and communications;
• community management;
• payment and subscription processing, such as Stripe;
• accounting and financial administration;
• cloud infrastructure and data storage;
• analytics and website security;
• AI-assisted productivity and operational tools, where appropriate.

These providers may only process personal information for the relevant service and subject to their applicable contractual and data protection obligations.

We may also disclose information where required by law, regulation, court order, or to protect the rights, property or safety of AlienLab, our users or others.

Before publishing this notice, this section should be updated to reflect the third-party services AlienLab actually uses.

7. International transfers

Some of our technology and service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take steps to ensure that an appropriate level of protection applies.

Depending on the destination and provider, this may include:

• UK adequacy regulations;
• contractual safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement;
• the UK Addendum to approved EU Standard Contractual Clauses; or
• another lawful transfer mechanism available under UK data protection law.

The ICO requires restricted international transfers to be covered by adequacy regulations, appropriate safeguards or an applicable exception.

8. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

As a general guide:

• general enquiries: normally up to 2 years after the last meaningful interaction;
• community membership information: for the duration of your membership and normally up to 2 years afterwards;
• newsletter subscription information: until you unsubscribe or we discontinue the mailing list;
• challenge, mission or project submissions: normally for the duration of the programme and up to 5 years afterwards where reasonably required for records, attribution or project continuity;
• customer and service records: normally for the duration of the relationship and up to 6 years afterwards;
• accounting, payment and tax records: normally for the period required by applicable UK law;
• basic security and technical logs: normally retained only for a limited period unless required to investigate a security or legal issue.

We may retain information for longer where required by law, to resolve disputes, establish legal claims, protect intellectual property or meet contractual obligations.

Where possible, information that no longer needs to identify an individual may be deleted or anonymised.

9. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law may give you rights including:

• access – to ask for a copy of your personal information;
• rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• erasure – to ask us to delete your personal information in certain circumstances;
• restriction – to ask us to limit how we use your information;
• objection – to object to certain uses of your information;
• data portability – to receive certain information in a portable format or ask us to transfer it;
• withdrawal of consent – where processing is based on your consent.

These rights are not absolute and may depend on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used.

To exercise your rights, contact:

privacy@alienlab.co.uk

We will normally respond to valid requests without undue delay and within the period required by applicable law.

The ICO identifies access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, portability and withdrawal of consent among the rights that organisations should explain in their privacy information.

10. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, loss or misuse.

Access to personal information is limited to people, systems and service providers that reasonably require it for the relevant purpose.

However, no internet-based service can guarantee absolute security.

11. Automated decision-making and AI

AlienLab may use artificial intelligence tools to assist with activities such as research, software development, content preparation, administration and information organisation.

We do not currently intend to make decisions that produce significant legal or similarly significant effects on individuals solely through automated processing.

Where AI tools are used with personal information, we aim to minimise the amount of personal information shared and use appropriate controls.

If our use of automated decision-making materially changes, we will update this notice.

12. Cookies

Our website may use cookies or similar technologies that are necessary for website functionality.

If AlienLab introduces analytics, advertising or other non-essential tracking technologies, we will provide appropriate information and, where required, obtain consent before using them.

13. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, open-source repositories, community platforms or other external services.

AlienLab does not control the privacy practices of those third parties. You should review their privacy notices when using their services.

14. How to complain

If you have concerns about how AlienLab uses your personal information, please contact us first:

AlienLab Ltd
71–75 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9JQ
United Kingdom

Email: privacy@alienlab.co.uk

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office.

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
United Kingdom

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Further information is available from the Information Commissioner's Office.

15. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time as AlienLab develops, introduces new services or changes the way personal information is processed.

The latest version will always be published on this page, together with the date it was last updated.