Privacy Policy

ClearLink Research ABN: 36 153 152 060
 

Last updated: 22 August 2026
 

ClearLink Research (ClearLink Research, we, us, our) is a research consulting and education business operating in Australia. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
 

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and protect personal information, and how you can exercise your privacy rights, in relation to our website www.clearlinkresearch.com, our research consulting and education, training and related digital products and services, which may include self-paced online courses, live webinars and workshops, downloadable resources, educational materials, digital research packages, memberships and other research-related learning products made available by us from time to time.
 

1. About Us

ClearLink Research is an Australian business providing:

• Digital products made available for purchase and download/access through our website;

• Self-paced courses hosted on our website, with course materials (including PDFs) delivered by email or via our website;

• Live online workshops, held via Microsoft Teams, booked and paid for through our website;

• Research consulting services for research teams, industry partners and organisations, delivered under invoice.
   

Our website is built and hosted on the Wix platform.
 

2. Personal Information We Collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us:
 

2.1 Free digital products

• First name and email address to send you the relevant free PDF/course materials.
   

2.2 Paid courses, workshops and digital products

• First name, last name and email address;

• Billing/contact details you provide at checkout (e.g. postal address, phone number, if requested by our payment provider);

• Payment information: we do not collect or store your full card or bank details ourselves. Payments are processed directly by our third-party payment providers (Stripe, Afterpay, and/or PayPal), who collect this information under their own privacy policies (linked in Section 6).
   

2.3 Workshops (Microsoft Teams)

• Name and email address, used to send you the Teams meeting link and joining details after payment is confirmed.

• If you join a live online workshop, your display name and email address may be visible to other attendees and to us through the Teams meeting interface (e.g. participant list, chat), in the same way as any other online meeting platform.

• We do not routinely record workshops. If a session is going to be recorded, we will tell participants beforehand and, where appropriate, seek consent before recording begins.
   

2.4 Consulting clients (research teams, industry, organisations)

To onboard and deliver consulting services and to issue invoices, we may collect:

• Contact name(s), position/title, organisation name, email address and phone number;

• Business/organisational details required for invoicing (e.g. ABN/ACN, billing address, purchase order numbers);

• Information you provide about your research project, organisation, or engagement scope, to the extent reasonably necessary to deliver the consulting service.
   

2.5 Research and client-supplied data

Our consulting work may involve datasets or other information supplied by a client, including research data. How we handle data provided as part of a consulting engagement, including any obligations regarding its use, disclosure and confidentiality, is set out in the Consultancy Agreement entered into with that client, which takes precedence over this Privacy Policy for the purposes of that engagement.
 

2.6 Sensitive information

We do not seek to collect sensitive information (such as health information, genetic information, or information about racial or ethnic origin) unless it is directly relevant to a specific consulting engagement and forms part of a dataset or project you engage us to advise on. Where this occurs, we handle it with additional care, use it only for that engagement, and seek consent where required.
 

2.7 Website usage information

Like most websites, our Wix-hosted site may automatically collect limited technical information (such as IP address, browser type, pages visited, and cookies) via Wix's built-in analytics and cookie functionality. See Section 9 (Cookies) for more detail.
 

3. How We Collect Personal Information

We collect personal information:

• Directly from you, when you fill in a form on our website, enrol in a course or workshop, contact us by email, or engage us for consulting services;

• Through our website's checkout process, in conjunction with our payment providers;

• Through Microsoft Teams, when scheduling and hosting workshops;

• In the course of a consulting engagement (e.g. via email, video calls, shared documents, or client-supplied datasets).

We do not knowingly collect personal information from third parties without your knowledge, except where necessary to process a payment (e.g. confirmation from a payment provider that a transaction was successful).
 

4. Why We Collect, Hold, Use and Disclose Personal Information, and Our Basis for Doing So

We use personal information to:

• Deliver digital products such as PDFs, course materials, workshop access, and consulting services you have requested;

• Process payments and issue invoices/receipts;

• Communicate with you about your enrolment, booking, or consulting engagement;

• Respond to enquiries;

• Send you information about future courses, workshops, or services, only where you have opted in or would reasonably expect this given our relationship (see Section 6);

• Comply with our legal and tax obligations (e.g. record-keeping for invoices);

• Improve our website and services.
   

We handle personal information on one or more of the following bases: your consent; because it is necessary to provide a product or service you have requested; because it is necessary for the ordinary administration of our business; because we are required or authorised by law; or another lawful basis reasonably related to our functions as a research consulting and education business.
 

We will not use or disclose your personal information for any other purpose without your consent, unless required or authorised by law.
 

5. Disclosure of Personal Information, and Third-Party Service Providers

We disclose personal information only where necessary to operate our business, including to service providers such as:

• Wix.com Ltd — our website hosting and course delivery platform;

• Stripe, Afterpay (Block, Inc.) and PayPal — our third-party payment processors;

• Microsoft 365 (Outlook) — to send course materials, workshop links and communications;

• Microsoft 365 (Microsoft Teams) — to host and deliver live online workshops;

• Our accountant/bookkeeper, where necessary for invoicing and tax compliance;

• Any other third party where required or authorised by law.
   

As our business grows, we may use additional third-party tools to operate ClearLink Research. For example, email marketing platforms, cloud storage, accounting or scheduling software, form tools, analytics, or other business software. We may disclose personal information to these providers where reasonably necessary to operate our business, on terms consistent with this policy. We will update this policy periodically to reflect significant changes, rather than for every individual tool we adopt.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
 

AI tools

We may use third-party software that incorporates AI features as part of how we run our business. As a general practice, we do not enter confidential client information or identifiable personal information into third-party AI tools unless appropriate authorisation, and appropriate privacy, confidentiality and security arrangements, are in place.
 

Overseas disclosure (APP 8)

Some of the third parties above may store or process personal information on servers located outside Australia (including in the United States and other jurisdictions in which they operate). This means your personal information may be handled overseas as part of the ordinary operation of these services. We take reasonable steps to only use reputable providers with their own privacy and security commitments. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these providers:

• Wix: https://www.wix.com/about/privacy

• Stripe: https://stripe.com/au/privacy

• PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full

• Afterpay (Block, Inc.): https://www.afterpay.com/en-AU/privacy-policy

• Microsoft: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-au/privacystatement
   

6. Direct Marketing

We may send you marketing communications about our digital products, courses, workshops or consulting services where:

• You have opted in (e.g. ticked a checkbox at sign-up), or

• You have an existing relationship with us and would reasonably expect to receive such communications, and it is not impractical for us to provide an opt-out.
   

Every marketing email will include an unsubscribe option. You can also opt out at any time by emailing us at hello@clearlinkresearch.com. Transactional emails (e.g. sending your purchased course materials or workshop link) are not marketing and cannot be opted out of, as they are necessary to deliver the service you've paid for.
 

7. Consulting Engagements

This Privacy Policy addresses personal information only. If you are a consulting client, the Consultancy Agreement between you and ClearLink Research sets out the terms governing that engagement, including confidentiality and how any data or information you provide is to be used and disclosed. Where there is any inconsistency between this Privacy Policy and a Consultancy Agreement in relation to a specific engagement, the Consultancy Agreement applies.
 

8. Data Storage, Security and Retention

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, including:

• Relying on secure, reputable third-party platforms that maintain their own security standards;

• Not storing full payment card details ourselves;

• Limiting access to personal information to what is necessary to operate our business.
   

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law or our contractual and professional obligations. Retention periods vary by category of information.

• Tax and financial records (e.g. invoices, receipts) are retained for at least five years, as required by Australian tax law;

• Contracts, correspondence, project records and analysis outputs relating to a consulting engagement may be retained for longer where necessary for legal, contractual, accounting or dispute-related reasons;

• Course/workshop enrolment details are generally retained for as long as needed to administer your enrolment and applicable records requirements.
   

No method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and while we take reasonable steps, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
 

9. Cookies and Website Analytics

Our website is hosted on Wix, which uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to operate the site and may collect analytics data using Usercentrics. Cookies may be used to remember your preferences, understand how visitors use our website, and support checkout and account functionality.
 

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings, though this may affect how parts of our website function. For more detail, see Wix's cookie policy: https://www.wix.com/about/cookie-policy
 

10. Access, Correction and Deletion

You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by contacting us at hello@clearlinkresearch.com after verification. We will respond within a reasonable time and, where required by the APPs, provide access or make corrections free of charge, unless an exception applies. If we deny a request, we will explain why.
 

You may also ask us to delete or destroy personal information we hold about you. We will consider such requests, but may need to retain some information where we have a legal, contractual, accounting or professional obligation to do so, or in other circumstances where we are required or permitted by law to retain it.
 

11. Data Breaches

If we become aware of a data breach involving personal information that is likely to result in serious harm, we will comply with our obligations under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, including notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) where required.
 

12. Complaints

If you believe we have breached your privacy or handled your personal information improperly, please contact us first at hello@clearlinkresearch.com with details of your concern. We will investigate and respond within a reasonable time.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

• Website: www.oaic.gov.au

• Phone: 1300 363 992
   

13. Children's Privacy

Our digital products, courses, workshops and consulting services are intended for adults and professional audiences (e.g. researchers, industry professionals, and organisational staff). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take steps to delete it.
 

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices, third-party providers, or legal obligations. The updated version will be posted on our website with a revised "last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
 

15. Contact Us

For any questions, requests, or complaints about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact:

ClearLink Research ABN: 36 153 152 060 Email: hello@clearlinkresearch.com Website: www.clearlinkresearch.com