Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible for your information

For the purposes of UK data-protection law, Martin Rothery / Nine Realms Institute is the data controller for personal information collected through ninerealmsinstitute.com and the services provided through it.

Contact: martin@ninerealmsinstitute.com

2. Information we may collect

Depending on how you use the site, we may collect:

• your name and email address;
• account and student-login information;
• purchase, order and enrolment records;
• billing information supplied through the payment process;
• messages you send through contact, support or media forms;
• course progress, access records and account activity;
• newsletter and marketing preferences;
• technical information such as IP address, browser, device, referring page and site activity;
• information you voluntarily provide when taking part in a programme, consultation, questionnaire or other NRI service; and
• records needed to prevent fraud, abuse, spam or unauthorised access.

We do not intentionally ask you to provide more personal information than is reasonably needed for the service you are using.

3. How we collect information

Information may be collected when you:

• purchase or enrol in a programme;
• create or use a student account;
• register for free training or email updates;
• submit a contact or support form;
• use the Nine Realms Council or another interactive NRI service;
• communicate with us by email;
• use the website, where cookies or technical logs are involved; or
• interact with third-party services used to provide NRI functions.

4. Why we use your information

Personal information may be used to:

• process purchases and enrolments;
• create, maintain and secure your account;
• provide course, student-area and digital-content access;
• respond to questions, support requests and media enquiries;
• send transactional messages relating to purchases, accounts or access;
• send marketing where we have an appropriate lawful basis to do so;
• keep records of purchases, payments, certifications and access entitlements;
• operate, maintain and improve the website and services;
• prevent spam, abuse, fraud and security incidents;
• comply with legal, tax, accounting or regulatory obligations; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims where necessary.

5. Lawful bases for processing

Depending on the situation, we rely on one or more lawful bases under UK data-protection law.

Contract: where information is needed to provide something you purchased or requested, such as course access, enrolment or account services.

Legal obligation: where records must be kept for tax, accounting, regulatory or other legal reasons.

Legitimate interests: where reasonably necessary to operate and secure the website, answer enquiries, maintain records, prevent abuse and improve services, provided those interests do not override your rights.

Consent: where consent is the appropriate basis, including certain forms of marketing or optional tracking. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw that consent.

6. Purchases and payment information

Payments are processed using third-party payment services. Nine Realms Institute does not intentionally store your full payment-card details on its own website.

We may receive and retain information needed to identify the order, payment status, product purchased, amount, date, customer details and other transaction information required for fulfilment, accounting, refunds, support and fraud prevention.

7. Email and marketing

If you ask to receive email updates, or where the law otherwise permits relevant communication with an existing customer, we may send information about NRI writing, training, programmes or related work.

Marketing messages will include a way to unsubscribe. If you unsubscribe, we may keep a minimal suppression record so that we know not to add the same address back into marketing unintentionally.

Unsubscribing from marketing does not prevent necessary transactional messages about an existing purchase, account, payment or service.

8. Cookies and similar technologies

The website may use cookies and similar technologies for essential functions such as security, login, enrolment, preferences and site operation.

Optional technologies may also be used for analytics, measurement, advertising or other non-essential functions. Where consent is legally required for those technologies, they should not be activated until the relevant consent has been given.

You can also control cookies through your browser, although blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the site from working correctly.

9. Who we may share information with

Personal information may be shared with service providers where necessary to operate the website and provide the service you requested. These may include providers involved in:

• website hosting and infrastructure;
• WordPress and website functionality;
• learning-management and student access;
• payment processing and ecommerce;
• email delivery and mailing-list management;
• forms, support and communications;
• analytics, security, spam prevention and fraud prevention;
• file, video or media delivery; and
• professional accounting, legal or technical services where required.

We may also disclose information where required by law, court order, lawful authority or where reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety, property or the integrity of the service.

We do not sell personal information.

10. International services and transfers

Some service providers used to operate an online business may process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, appropriate legal safeguards should be used where required, which may include adequacy regulations, approved contractual safeguards or another legally recognised transfer mechanism.

11. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including providing access, maintaining purchase and certification records, dealing with disputes, meeting legal obligations and protecting against fraud or misuse.

Different information has different retention needs. For example, tax and transaction records may need to be kept for legally required periods, while marketing information may be kept until you unsubscribe or it is no longer useful or lawful to retain it.

Where a particular NRI service has a more specific retention period, that period may be explained within the service itself.

12. Security

Reasonable technical and organisational measures are used to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

No internet-based service can promise absolute security. You are also responsible for keeping passwords and account credentials private and for telling us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.

13. Your data-protection rights

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

• the right to be informed about how your information is used;
• the right to request access to your personal information;
• the right to ask for inaccurate information to be corrected;
• the right to ask for deletion in certain circumstances;
• the right to ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances;
• the right to object to certain processing, including direct marketing;
• the right to data portability where applicable; and
• rights relating to certain automated decision-making where applicable.

These rights are not absolute in every situation. We may need to retain or process information where there is a lawful reason to do so.

14. Exercising your rights

To ask about your personal information or exercise a data-protection right, email martin@ninerealmsinstitute.com.

We may need enough information to verify your identity before acting on a request. We will respond within the time required by applicable law.

15. Complaints

If you have a concern about how your personal information is being handled, please contact Nine Realms Institute first so we have an opportunity to resolve it.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office or, where applicable, another data-protection authority available to you.

16. Children

Nine Realms Institute paid programmes are generally intended for adults. We do not knowingly use the website to collect personal information from children for paid training unless a specific service expressly provides otherwise and the necessary safeguards are in place.

17. Third-party websites and embedded content

The website may contain links to or embedded content from third-party platforms such as video, audio, payment, social-media or other services.

Those organisations may collect information under their own privacy policies. Nine Realms Institute does not control the privacy practices of an independent third-party website or platform.

18. Changes to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated when the website, services, legal requirements or data practices change. The latest version will be published on this page with the updated date.

19. Contact

For privacy questions or requests:

Martin Rothery / Nine Realms Institute
martin@ninerealmsinstitute.com