Privacy Policy
Learn how ERDC collects, uses, stores and protects the personal information you share with us.
Last updated: [15/09/2026]
1. About this Privacy Policy:
The Emirates Research and Development Council (“ERDC”, “we”, “us” or “our”) privacy policy.
This privacy policy aims to give you information on how ERDC collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you (i) sign up to our newsletter, (ii) make any enquiries about ERDC, or (iii) this website.
This policy applies to this website only. Separate privacy notices may apply to TAWWER or other platforms and services operated by ERDC or third parties.
2. Personal data we may collect
Depending on how you interact with the website, we may collect:
- Identification and contact information, such as your name, organisation, job title, email address and telephone number.
- Enquiry and correspondence information, including the content of messages, feedback, complaints and supporting documents you choose to provide.
- Technical and usage information, such as your IP address, device type, browser type, operating system, language preference, referring pages, pages viewed, dates and times of access, and general website interaction data.
- Cookie and analytics information, as described in section 8 below.
- Any other information you voluntarily provide through an official ERDC channel.
Please do not submit confidential, sensitive or unnecessary personal information through general website forms.
3. How we use personal data
We may process personal data to:
- Respond to enquiries and provide requested information or assistance.
- Inform you about ERDC related content, publications, events and media.
- Operate, maintain, secure and improve the website and its user experience.
- Understand website usage and measure the effectiveness of content and services.
- Prevent misuse, fraud, security incidents and technical problems.
- Maintain records and comply with applicable laws and regulations, court orders, government and law enforcement agencies’ requests.
- Establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
- Carry out other purposes that are clearly communicated when the information is collected.
We may also process your information for purposes related to ERDC’s operations, administration, governance, and service improvement, where permitted by applicable law.
Where required under applicable United Arab Emirates (UAE) data protection laws, we process personal data based on applicable legal grounds, including consent, compliance with legal obligations, performance of official functions and legitimate operational purposes.
5. International processing
Some service providers may process or store information outside the UAE. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards and contractual protections are in place, as required by applicable law.
6. Data retention
We will retain your personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
7. Security Measures
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.
9. Your rights and choices
Subject to applicable UAE law and any lawful exemptions, you may have rights relating to your personal data, including the right to:
- Request access to or a copy of your personal data.
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Request deletion or restriction of processing in certain circumstances, where applicable.
- Object to certain processing or withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
- Ask questions or raise a complaint about how your personal data is handled.
We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. To submit a request, use the contact details in section 13.
10. Children’s privacy
This website is intended for a general audience and is not designed to collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided personal data without appropriate authorisation, please contact us. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children without appropriate consent where required by applicable law.
11. External links
The website may contain links to third-party websites and platforms. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and we are not responsible or liable for their privacy statements or websites. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect legal, technical or operational changes. The revised version will be published on this page with an updated date.
13. Contact us
For privacy questions, requests or complaints, contact ERDC through the official Contact Us page."
