MESEA: Multi-Ethnic Studies in Europe and the Americas (MESEA) gathers and processes personal data in accordance with this privacy notice and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council dated 27 April 2016. The aim of the regulation is to protect your privacy.

MESEA takes data protection seriously, and we only collect information upon your consent. Your data is treated as confidential and in accordance to the GDPR regulation and this privacy notice. MESEA uses your personal information only to manage your account and provide the services you request from us. We do not sell your data and keep it secure. The MESEA website is hosted on servers in the European Union.

MESEA Privacy policy is based on the following legislation:

  • The Privacy Act of 8 December 1992 for the protection of privacy with regard to the processing of personal data. 
  • Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46 / EC (general data protection regulation)
General information

The party responsible for this web site is MESEA. MESEA is a registered non-profit organization in Germany and our tax registration number is 32489/33780 (Heidelberg tax authority, Germany).

Our address is:

MESEA: Multiethnic Studies in Europe and the Americas
c/o M. Mueller
Department of English, Ruhr-University Bochum
Universitaetsstr. 150
D-44801 Bochum, Germany

MESEA acts as the data controller identified in the regulation, and the Secretary of MESEA acts as the Data Protection Officer: l.martanovschi@mesea.org

What kind of data we collect

Data for Analytical Purposes

When you visit our website, your consent activates automatic cookies or other technology that collects some data. Cookies are mostly used for security reasons. We use the Jetpack plugin platform in order to analyse website visitor data such as IP address, visiting or referring URL, timestamp, and country. This data helps us understand visitor flows, traffic sources, movement and page views. This data is not combined with data from other sources.

Personal Data

MESEA collects personal data when you provide it to us.  When you visit the website and create a user account (profile) to register as member and attend one of our conferences, MESEA processes the following personal information upon your consent:

  • full name
  • email address
  • title
  • Institutional and/or home address
  • telephone and fax numbers
  • type of membership (full member/student member/family member/honorary member)
  • beginning and end of membership
  • conference payment processing
  • activities within the society, especially participating in conferences and proceedings, as well as publications for the society
  • content of correspondence through the website (e.g. conference submission)
  • your chosen biographical information (e.g. in the context of conference submission)
  • upon your consent and choice, your user account on the MESEA website can include some further information of your choice (profile picture, website) to be displayed.

If you contact us through the contact form, we collect the data on the form, including your contact details, to answer your inquiry and further questions. This information is not shared without your permission.

Why we collect data

The purpose of collecting the data described above is to administer and register membership and record of membership and conference fees, as well as to secure services to our membership. MESEA uses this data to correspond with our members in order to keep you informed of your membership though newsletters and to invite you to our conferences as well as the members’ General Meeting. We also use this data to inform you of other events, grants, scholarships, prizes, awards, or similar that you are likely to be interested in. This information may be shared by other members to promote scholarship in the field.

Who uses the data

Your personal data is used only by our officers, conference organizers, and webmaster who are careful with your data and use it only for the purpose specified and your previous consent. This data, as well as the automatically collected data, may be needed by the webmaster to ensure that the website, the mail server and your user account work properly.

As part of your membership benefits, we share your contact information with MESEA’s co-operation partners such as e.g. Taylor and Francis (Informa Ltd) who publish the journal Atlantic Studies for the society. The data may also be disclosed to other members of the society if such disclosure is relevant and necessary for the legitimate interest in the society. It will not be sold for commercial purposes.

Do we transfer data outside Europe?

We don’t share your personal data with organizations outside the European Union unless they guarantee that they keep it safe as regulated by the GDPR.

How long do we keep your data?

We will store your personal data in our systems as long as long as you are a member of MESEA. If your membership is not renewed and you have no intentions to renew it, you may request removal of some of your information and data will be deleted unless it is necessary for us to retain it to comply with our legal obligations or in connection with any legal claims. In financial cases we are demanded to keep the data for the period of at least ten years because of reasons subject to tax law. In the event the storage of personal data is based exclusively on the data subject’s consent, such consent can be withdrawn at any time, and you can ask as to terminate your user account. All materials pertaining to the history of the association, its activities, and publications are kept permanently.

What rights do you have?

You have the right to ask for information concerning the processing of your personal data and its correctness. We will provide you with a copy of any information about you upon request. You also have the right to ask us to correct your data. You will also have the right to object to and restrict the processing of your data, and to ask us to erase it from our database. Your right to data portability includes that your data can be delivered to you in a standard, machine-readable format. You will not be  subject to a decision based solely on automated processing. In all these cases you should contact MESEA. You also have the right to contact the regulatory authorities. Your right to be forgotten does not apply when data retention is necessary in the context of a legal obligation or for the execution of a legal claim.

This privacy notice can be revised if necessary.