Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Microinterns Ltd. (“we”, “us”) collects, uses and protects your personal data when you use MicroInterns (microinterns.app). We are the data controller for the purposes of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are

• Controller: Microinterns Ltd.
• Address: Abventures Zone, MacRobert Building, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, AB24 3FX
• ICO registration number: ZC051820
• Contact for privacy matters: privacy@microinterns.co.uk

2. Who can use MicroInterns

MicroInterns is intended for users aged 16 or over. You confirm you meet this age requirement when you create an account. If we learn that we hold data about someone under 16, we will delete it.

3. The data we collect

• Account data — your name, email address and password (passwords are stored only as a secure hash by our authentication provider).
• Profile data — for students: headline, university, course, graduation year, skills, bio, location and any portfolio/LinkedIn links you add; for employers: company name, sector, size, website, location and description.
• Activity data — briefs you post, applications and cover notes, project milestones, messages you send in a project workspace, and verification/credential records.
• Consent records — the version of the Terms/Privacy Policy you accepted, the time you accepted, your age confirmation and your marketing preference.
• Technical data — strictly-necessary session cookies and basic, aggregated, cookieless usage analytics.

4. How and why we use your data (lawful bases)

• To provide the service — creating your account, matching students with briefs, running the delivery workspace, and issuing verified credentials. Lawful basis: performance of a contract.
• To show relevant profiles — employers you apply to can see your profile and application; a Project Manager assigned to a brief can see the projects they manage. Lawful basis: contract and our legitimate interests in operating a marketplace.
• Service communications — account, security and delivery emails. Lawful basis: contract.
• Marketing emails — only if you opt in. Lawful basis: consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
• Your MicroSkill Passport — aggregating your verified credentials into evidence metrics, skill summaries and transferable competencies (strengths and growth areas). This is decision-support for recruiters, presented as evidence and growth — not an automated ranking or hiring decision, and never a single opaque score. Lawful basis: contract and legitimate interests. We do not infer special-category data (such as health, race or religion).
• Security, prevention of abuse and analytics — keeping the platform safe and improving it. Lawful basis: legitimate interests.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with:

• Other users, as required by the marketplace — e.g. an employer sees the applications and profiles of students who apply to their brief.
• Service providers (processors) acting on our instructions: Supabase (database, authentication and file storage, hosted in the EU/UK), Vercel (application hosting) and our transactional email provider. Each is bound by a data-processing agreement.
• Authorities where we are legally required to do so.

6. International transfers

We aim to keep personal data hosted within the UK/EU. Where a provider processes data outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement.

7. How long we keep it

We keep your account and profile data while your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete your personal data promptly, except where we must retain limited records to meet legal obligations. Verified credentials contain a cryptographic proof and may be retained in anonymised form to keep issued credentials verifiable.

8. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• access a copy of your data (you can download it from Account → Your data);
• have inaccurate data corrected (edit it in your profile);
• have your data erased (delete your account from Account);
• restrict or object to processing, and to data portability;
• withdraw consent (e.g. turn off marketing emails) at any time;
• add your own context/note to any credential, and request an employer re-review — for authenticity, credentials are employer-signed and cannot be hidden or deleted, but they can be annotated and reconsidered.

To exercise any right, use your account settings or email privacy@microinterns.co.uk. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

9. Cookies

We use only strictly-necessary cookies to keep you signed in. Our usage analytics are aggregated and do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, so we do not require a consent banner for them — but we tell you here for transparency.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy; the “last updated” date above will change and, where appropriate, we will ask you to re-accept.

11. Contact

Questions about your data? Email privacy@microinterns.co.uk or write to us at Abventures Zone, MacRobert Building, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, AB24 3FX.