1. Who we are
Mechanical Design Nexus is a student design community at CEDAT, Makerere University. We meet in Room 3034, CEDAT New Building on Thursdays from 14:00 to 16:00. This site runs the club: membership, session materials, member work and announcements. This policy covers the data the site handles.
2. What you give us
- Account details. Your name, email address, university or organisation, and role. Your password is stored only as a bcrypt hash, never as text.
- Profile. Avatar, biography, links, skills and the work you publish.
- What you post. Designs, articles, comments, reactions and poll votes.
- What you send. Contact messages, session RSVPs and newsletter sign-ups.
3. What we record automatically
- Technical details: IP address, browser, device, operating system and the page that referred you.
- Usage: pages viewed, time on the site, session attendance and which features you use.
- Cookies and local storage. The cookie policy lists every one and what it does.
4. Why we hold it
- To sign you in and keep your account secure.
- To run sessions, publish resources and operate community features.
- To send transactional email: password resets, session reminders, submission receipts.
- To send announcements, only if you asked for them. Every one carries an unsubscribe link.
- To detect abuse and enforce the terms of service.
- To count usage in aggregate, so we know which material is worth keeping.
5. Our legal basis
- Consent, for announcements and optional cookies.
- Contract, to provide what you signed up for.
- Legitimate interest, to keep the site secure and working.
- Legal obligation, where the law requires it.
6. Who else sees it
We do not sell your data. It goes to exactly three places beyond MDN:
- Our hosting and database providers, who process it on our behalf under their own data-processing terms.
- CEDAT faculty, where academic or accreditation reporting requires it.
- A court or regulator, if we are legally compelled.
That is the whole list.
7. How long we keep it
While your account is active, and for 24 months after you close it, so attendance and certification records stay auditable. Statistics that cannot identify you may be kept indefinitely. You can ask us to delete your data sooner.
8. How we protect it
Encryption in transit using TLS 1.2 or later, and at rest. Passwords hashed with bcrypt. Role-based access control, rate limiting, audit logging and regular dependency checks. No system is perfectly secure, so use a password you do not use anywhere else.
9. What you can ask for
- A copy of the data we hold about you.
- Correction of anything wrong.
- Deletion of your account and its data.
- Your data exported in a portable format.
- Withdrawal of consent for announcements.
- Restriction of, or objection to, specific processing.
Email mec.designnexus@gmail.com. We reply within 30 days.
10. Age
You must be 18 to hold an account, which matches the terms of service. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. Tell us if you think we have, and we will delete it.
11. Where your data is processed
Our hosting and database run outside Uganda. Using the site means your data may be processed in another country under equivalent safeguards.
12. Changes
If we change this policy in a way that affects you, we will say so by email and on the site at least 14 days before it takes effect.
13. Contact
Mechanical Design Nexus
Room 3034, CEDAT New Building
Kampala, Uganda
Email: mec.designnexus@gmail.com