1. Who We Are
This policy explains how Culturistics Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”) handles personal information. Culturistics is a small, purpose‑driven consultancy based in Essex, UK, focused on strategy engagement and organisational development. We take privacy seriously and aim to treat others’ information as carefully as we’d want our own handled.
If you have any questions or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us at: privacy@culturistics.co.uk.
2. What Information We Collect
We only collect the information we need to provide our services, respond to enquiries, or maintain professional relationships. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:
- Name and email address — when you subscribe to updates, contact us, or participate in an event.
- Responses to forms or surveys — when you complete a Google Form created by us (for example, feedback or workshop exercises).
- Content shared through ChatGPT‑based tools — when you use a Culturistics GPT or AI form, the text you provide may be processed by OpenAI’s systems to generate responses or insights.
- Website usage data — such as pages visited and general technical or analytics information, where analytics tools are used.
- Professional contact details — contact information provided directly to us or obtained through ordinary professional relationships, introductions and publicly available professional sources.
We do not normally ask for special category or other sensitive personal information. If a project genuinely requires it, we will explain why it is needed and how it will be handled before collecting it.
3. How We Use the Information
We use personal information only where reasonably necessary to:
- Communicate with you in response to your request or ongoing collaboration;
- Provide access to resources, workshops, or digital tools you’ve chosen to use;
- Evaluate and improve our services, tools, workshops and materials;
- Maintain professional contact with individuals we know and have worked with;
- Meet any legal or contractual obligations where applicable.
We do not sell, rent, or share data with third parties for marketing purposes.
4. How We Use AI and Cloud Services
We use selected third-party services to help deliver our work, including Google Workspace and, in some circumstances, AI services such as OpenAI.
These providers may process personal information on our behalf or as otherwise described in their applicable privacy terms. We take reasonable care when choosing and configuring the services we use.
Where AI is involved, additional information about how we use it and how information may be processed is available in our AI Privacy Notice.
Please avoid entering sensitive or confidential personal information into an AI tool unless we have specifically asked you to do so for an agreed purpose.
5. How Long We Keep Information
- Form and survey responses — kept only as long as needed to analyse and apply the results.
- Email subscriptions — removed immediately upon unsubscribing.
- ChatGPT tool interactions — not retained by Culturistics beyond the session.
- Professional contacts — retained for as long as they remain relevant to ongoing or future collaboration. Many of our relationships span years, and occasional contact is part of maintaining those connections.
If you ever prefer your details not to be retained or contacted, you can ask us to delete them at any time (see section 7).
5a. Interview and Project Data
From time to time, we interview client staff or stakeholders as part of our consulting and research work. These interviews are conducted with the knowledge of the client organisation. Findings are normally synthesised and reported to the client without unnecessarily identifying individual participants. Where appropriate, anonymous quotations or themes may be included.
Retention and purpose: Project interviews, transcripts and analysis materials are kept for as long as reasonably necessary for the project, related professional obligations, and legitimate learning or quality-assurance purposes. We periodically review older material and delete or anonymise personal information when we no longer need to identify the individuals concerned. Anonymised materials may be retained for longer for learning and methodological development. These materials are never shared publicly or with other clients without explicit consent.
Safeguards include:
- Files stored in clearly labelled project folders;
- Contact details kept separate from transcripts and analysis outputs;
- Anonymised versions clearly marked (e.g., “_anon.txt”);
- Access within Culturistics is restricted to those who need it;
- Use limited to legitimate interests and contractual delivery (see Section 6).
6. Lawful Basis for Processing
Depending on the circumstances, we rely on:
- Consent — for example, where you choose to receive marketing or updates, or where we specifically ask for consent.
- Contract — where using personal information is necessary to provide an agreed service.
- Legitimate interests — where reasonably necessary to run and improve our consultancy, conduct project work and research, and maintain appropriate professional relationships, provided those interests do not override your rights and interests.
- Legal obligations — where we need to keep or use information to comply with the law.
7. Your Rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or restrict the use of your personal information, obtain certain information in a portable format, or object to particular uses of it. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
To exercise a right, email privacy@culturistics.co.uk.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
8. Security
We take reasonable and proportionate steps to protect your data, including password protection, two‑factor authentication, and secure storage of online files. Only the owner of Culturistics Ltd has access to these systems.
9. Further Information
For more details on data protection and your rights under UK law, visit the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).