1. Who We Are
ISAI ("International Student Association of Ireland", "we", "us", "our") is operated by AspireRise Ventures Limited, and is the data controller for the personal information collected through joinisai.ie and its associated services. You can contact us at hello@joinisai.ie.
2. What Data We Collect
Depending on how you use ISAI, we may collect:
- Name, email address, phone number, and profile photo (via Google Sign-In)
- University/college, course, year of study, expected graduation date, visa/immigration status, primary language, and LinkedIn profile URL
- Alumni details — institution attended, degree, graduation year, current role, and mentoring preference
- Volunteer application details — availability, motivation, and college/region
- Employer account details — company name, job title, and LinkedIn profile (used for verification before account activation)
- Accommodation provider details — name, phone number, and property/city information
- Messages you send to the ISAI chatbot, and the responses it generates
- Content you submit to community features — forum posts, polls, reviews (employer/accommodation), part-time job postings, and hire-me profiles
- Referral codes you use or generate, and related leaderboard/points activity
- Event and summit registration details, including information used to generate entry tickets/QR codes
- Technical data such as login timestamps and session information needed to keep your account secure
3. How We Use Your Data
We use your personal data to:
- Create and manage your ISAI account and role-based access (student, alumni, volunteer, employer, accommodation provider)
- Operate the job board, hire-me profiles, accommodation listings, and employer/provider verification
- Power the ISAI chatbot, which uses OpenAI's API to generate responses to your questions
- Run community features — leaderboard, points, referrals, polls, and forum
- Organise events and the annual ISAI Summit, including issuing registration tickets
- Communicate with you about your account, applications, or ISAI updates
- Maintain platform security and prevent misuse
4. Our Legal Basis for Processing
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), our legal bases for processing your personal data are:
- Consent — given at sign-up, and for optional features like the newsletter or chatbot
- Contract / legitimate interests — to provide the platform's core features (job board, dashboards, community tools) to registered members
- Legitimate interests — to operate ISAI as a community platform, maintain security, and improve our services
5. How We Store Your Data
Your data is stored in a PostgreSQL database hosted by Supabase, with our backend and chatbot infrastructure hosted on Railway, and our website served via Hostinger. We retain your data for as long as your account remains active. If you request deletion, your data is removed from our database directly — we do not currently maintain automated backups, so removal is immediate rather than delayed by backup cycles.
6. Third Parties Who Process Data on Our Behalf
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. The following providers process data on our behalf, under agreements intended to meet GDPR's requirements for processors:
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Database hosting and authentication |
| OpenAI | Generating chatbot responses to your messages |
| Railway | Backend application hosting |
| Hostinger | Website hosting |
| Sign-in authentication (Google OAuth) |
Some of these providers may process data outside the European Economic Area (for example, OpenAI's infrastructure is based in the United States). Where this occurs, we rely on the provider's certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, or equivalent safeguards, to cover the transfer.
We may also share limited data with regulatory or legal authorities if required by law.
7. Your Rights Under GDPR
As a data subject, you have the following rights:
- Right of access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Right to rectification — request correction of inaccurate data
- Right to erasure — request deletion of your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
- Right to restrict processing — request that we limit how we use your data
- Right to data portability — receive your data in a portable format
- Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Right to withdraw consent — at any time, for processing based on consent
To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@joinisai.ie. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie.
8. Data About Other People
Some features may involve information about people other than the account holder (for example, an employer review naming a company contact). We only collect what's necessary for the feature to function, and the same rights above apply to anyone whose data appears on the platform, not only registered users.
9. Cookies
ISAI uses essential session cookies required for login and core functionality. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as the platform evolves. Material changes will be reflected in the "last updated" date and version number at the top of this page.
11. Contact
For any privacy-related queries: hello@joinisai.ie
AspireRise Ventures Limited, Dublin, Ireland