Who we are
Neuroscience Imbizo NPC (registration number 2025/719717/08) runs the Simons Computational Neuroscience Imbizo and this website. In this notice, “we”, “us”, and “our” refer to the NPC. We are responsible for deciding how personal information collected through the site is used and protected under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
Information we hold
Our community records may include names, affiliations, photographs, and a person’s history of participation in Imbizo schools as a student, teaching assistant, faculty member, organiser, or other contributor. Historical listings were imported from the previous Imbizo website and may pre-date this site.
When you use the contact form, we receive the name, email address, and message submitted through it. We do not ask you to send sensitive information through the form.
If you create an account on this site, we also hold your email address and technical sign-in records (such as hashed session and rate-limit data) needed to operate the account securely. Community members may add optional profile details — such as an affiliation, biography, photograph, or contact preferences — which remain under their control through their account page.
Why we use it
We use community records to document Imbizo’s history, recognise participants, support the scientific community around the school, and operate the programme. Public directory information is published with the person’s consent. A person may withdraw that consent at any time, although this does not make earlier lawful use invalid.
We use contact-form information to read and respond to enquiries and to keep any necessary record of the conversation. We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably needed for these purposes or required by law.
Storage and analytics
Site data is stored in South Africa: the website and its database are hosted in a Cape Town data centre, and encrypted backups are kept in the NPC's own Amazon Web Services account in the same region. Keeping personal information inside South Africa is a deliberate choice under POPIA. We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to restrict access and protect the information from loss, misuse, or unauthorised disclosure, including encryption of backups and least-privilege access to systems.
Analytics only runs after a visitor has given consent through the site’s cookie-consent control. Analytics may collect information such as pages visited, approximate location, device or browser details, and visit timing. You can refuse analytics cookies or change your choice without losing access to the site’s core content.
Your rights
You may ask whether we hold personal information about you and request access to it. You may also ask us to correct inaccurate or outdated information, or delete information where there is no lawful reason to retain it. To make a request, withdraw directory consent, or raise a privacy concern, email isicn.imbizo@gmail.com. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may also approach South Africa’s Information Regulator.
This notice is pending formal adoption by the NPC board