Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

1824Leap collects several types of information to deliver our faculty collaboration discovery platform:

• Account Data: When you create an account or request a demo, we collect your name, email address, institutional affiliation, role, and department information.
• CV and Document Data: Faculty curricula vitae, biographical documents, publication records, grant histories, and other professional materials you upload for analysis. This data is stored securely and isolated by institution.
• Usage Data: Records of how you interact with the platform, including pages visited, features accessed, search queries, and time spent on various sections.
• Technical Data: IP addresses, browser type and version, device information, operating system, referral sources, and session timestamps for security and performance optimization.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Service Delivery: Provide access to the 1824Leap platform, authenticate users, manage institutional accounts, and deliver collaboration discovery features.
• AI Processing: Analyze faculty CVs and documents using artificial intelligence to extract expertise, identify research themes, and generate collaboration recommendations.
• Communication: Send account-related notifications, respond to support requests, provide platform updates, and share relevant product improvements.
• Platform Improvement: Analyze usage patterns to enhance features, improve AI accuracy, optimize performance, and develop new capabilities that better serve academic institutions.
• Security and Compliance: Detect and prevent fraud, unauthorized access, and security threats; comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms of service.

3. AI Processing & Data Analysis

1824Leap uses advanced artificial intelligence to transform faculty CVs into structured expertise profiles and collaboration opportunities. Our AI processing:

• Extracts research interests, technical skills, methodologies, publications, and grant experience from uploaded documents.
• Clusters faculty members based on complementary expertise to identify potential grant team compositions.
• Generates summaries and insights to help research administrators discover non-obvious collaboration opportunities.
• Operates entirely within your institutional tenant—your faculty data is never used to train AI models or shared across institutions.

All AI processing occurs on secure infrastructure with the same multi-tenant isolation and encryption protections as our core platform. Extracted expertise and clusters are stored within your organization's data partition and subject to the same retention policies as source documents.

4. Data Sharing & Disclosure

1824Leap does not sell, rent, or trade your data. We only share information in the following limited circumstances:

• Service Providers: Trusted third-party vendors who assist with hosting, analytics, customer support, and payment processing. These providers are contractually obligated to protect your data and use it only for specified purposes.
• Legal Requirements: When required by law, subpoena, court order, or government request; to protect our rights, property, or safety; or to prevent fraud and security threats.
• Institutional Access: Administrators at your institution can access faculty profiles, expertise data, and collaboration clusters within their organizational tenant. This access is governed by your institution's policies.
• Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the acquiring entity, subject to equivalent privacy protections.

We never share your data with advertisers or use it for marketing purposes outside of our direct relationship with your institution.

5. Data Security

Protecting your sensitive academic and professional data is our top priority. 1824Leap implements enterprise-grade security measures:

• Encryption at Rest and in Transit: All data is encrypted using AES-256 encryption when stored and TLS 1.3 when transmitted over networks.
• Multi-Tenant Isolation: Each institution's data is logically isolated using row-level security (RLS) policies that prevent cross-tenant data access at the database layer.
• Access Controls: Role-based permissions ensure users can only access data appropriate to their institutional role and responsibilities.
• Infrastructure Security: Hosted on SOC 2-compliant cloud infrastructure with automated backups, intrusion detection, and continuous security monitoring.
• Regular Audits: We conduct periodic security assessments, vulnerability scans, and code reviews to identify and remediate potential risks.

While we employ industry-leading security practices, no system is completely invulnerable. We continuously update our protections and maintain an incident response plan to address any security events.

6. Data Retention & Deletion

We retain your information only as long as necessary to provide services and comply with legal obligations:

• Active Accounts: Faculty profiles, CVs, and expertise data are retained while your institutional account remains active and in good standing.
• Account Deletion: If you or your institution requests account deletion, we will permanently remove your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or legitimate business purposes (e.g., financial records, security logs).
• Organizational Offboarding: When an institution terminates service, all faculty data, CVs, expertise profiles, and collaboration clusters are deleted within 90 days unless the institution requests an export.
• Backup Retention: Deleted data may persist in encrypted backups for up to 90 additional days before permanent removal from all systems.

You can request deletion of specific documents or your entire profile at any time through your institutional administrator or by contacting us directly.

7. Your Rights

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, including extracted expertise and AI-generated insights.
• Correction: Update or correct inaccurate information in your profile, biographical data, or uploaded documents.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your account and associated data, subject to legal retention requirements.
• Export: Receive your data in a portable, machine-readable format for transfer to another service.
• Objection to Processing: Object to specific uses of your data, though this may limit platform functionality.
• Withdraw Consent: Revoke consent for data processing where consent is the legal basis, without affecting prior lawful processing.

To exercise these rights, contact your institutional administrator or reach out to us directly. We will respond to verified requests within 30 days. Note that some rights may be limited by legal obligations or legitimate operational needs.

8. Cookies & Tracking

1824Leap uses cookies and similar technologies to maintain sessions and improve your experience:

• Essential Cookies: Required for authentication, session management, and core platform functionality. These cannot be disabled without preventing access to the service.
• Analytics: We use privacy-focused analytics to understand feature usage, identify performance issues, and improve the platform. This data is aggregated and anonymized.
• No Ad Tracking: We do not use third-party advertising networks, social media pixels, or cross-site tracking technologies.

Most browsers allow you to control cookie preferences through settings. Blocking essential cookies will prevent you from logging in and using 1824Leap.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or business operations. When we make material changes:

• We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.
• We will notify institutional administrators via email at least 30 days before changes take effect.
• For significant changes affecting data processing or rights, we may require re-acceptance of terms before continued use.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of 1824Leap after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us.

For data protection inquiries, deletion requests, or to exercise your privacy rights, you can also reach out through your institutional administrator, who can assist with account-specific matters.

1824Leap is operated by LeapToward.AI, committed to protecting the privacy and security of academic institutions and their faculty.