How we handle your data
This page explains what personal data this platform collects when you contact us on WhatsApp about the LSESU Economics Society Essay Competition or submit an essay, what we use it for, how long we keep it, and how you can request its correction or deletion.
Who runs this site
This international portal — en.lseec.org.cn — is operated as an information channel for the LSESU Economics Society Essay Competition. Operational support (answering WhatsApp enquiries, passing on the submission link, candidate support, integrity screening) is handled by ASEEDER; academic content (questions, judging, certificates) is owned by the LSESU Economics Society. This privacy policy covers data handled by the platform; data handled directly by the Society at its own site (lsesuesec.org) is governed by the Society’s own privacy notice.
The platform is filed in mainland China under ICP number 沪 ICP 备 17011449 号-22 and is the international-portal sibling of the Chinese-language site at lseec.org.cn.
Five categories of data
The platform collects only the data it needs to run the Essay Competition and to provide candidate support. We do not collect data for advertising or third-party-marketing purposes.
A · Contact data you choose to share
There is no registration form and no account. When you message us on WhatsApp to enter or ask a question, we receive whatever you choose to share — typically your full name (English), grade or year, and school name. This is used to answer you, to send you the submission link, and to produce your certificate if you win. Taking part is completely free, with one entry per person.
B · Submission data
The essay you send through the submission link we share on WhatsApp (up to 1500 words, in English, Harvard referencing, your own work), the time it was received, and the automated AI/plagiarism screening result. Used to mark your essay, to determine eligibility for awards, and to verify integrity. Submitted essays are not made public; only winning essays may be republished with the candidate’s consent.
C · Communication data
Messages you send to the WhatsApp support team, plus any attachments or screenshots you share. Used to answer your question; retained for service-quality review. Not shared outside the support team and the LSESU Economics Society editorial committee.
D · Technical data
Server logs containing IP address, browser type, pages visited on en.lseec.org.cn, and request timestamps. Used to keep the site secure, diagnose technical issues, and measure aggregate traffic. Retained for 90 days then deleted.
E · Cookies
Functional cookies necessary to render the site (session, language preference). No third-party advertising cookies. There is no candidate login, so no personal-data cookies are stored beyond the duration of your visit.
Six purposes, no others
- Run the Essay Competition — answer your enquiry, send you the submission link on WhatsApp, accept your essay, return your tier outcome.
- Mark and certify — pass your essay (blinded) to the judging panel, produce your certificate if you win, deliver Amazon Gift Card or Cambridge eligibility detail if applicable.
- Verify integrity — run automated AI and plagiarism screening on your submission; manually review borderline cases before any disqualification.
- Respond to support enquiries — answer your WhatsApp messages, route queries to the correct topic owner, document the resolution for service-quality review.
- Operate this site — render pages, maintain security, diagnose errors, measure aggregate traffic to prioritise improvements.
- Comply with legal obligations — respond to lawful requests from competent authorities; retain ICP filing records as required by Chinese law.
We do not use your data for advertising. We do not sell or rent your data to third parties. We do not enrol you in unrelated marketing campaigns. Future programmes from the LSESU Economics Society are announced via the Society’s own channels, not through outbound contact from this platform.
A short list
Access to your data is strictly limited to the people who need it to run the Essay Competition.
- The platform support team (ASEEDER) — for WhatsApp enquiries, sharing the submission link, support replies, technical operation.
- The integrity-screening service — automated AI / plagiarism check on submitted essays; result returned to the platform, raw essay not retained by the screening service after the check.
- The LSESU Economics Society editorial committee & judging panel — receives blinded essays for marking; identifying information (name, school, country) is stripped before transfer.
- The certificate-issuance team — receives the de-anonymised name and tier of award-winning candidates to produce certificates.
- Cambridge programme partner — receives the contact details of High Distinction awardees to issue programme eligibility, only after the awardee opts in.
No data is transferred to any party outside this list without your explicit consent or unless legally required.
Access, correction, deletion
You may at any time ask us to:
- Confirm what data we hold on you — the details you shared on WhatsApp, your submitted essay, support-conversation history.
- Correct inaccurate data — for example a misspelled name in the details you sent us before certificates are issued.
- Delete your data — if you decide to withdraw before the deadline, the details you shared and your submission are purged within thirty days.
- Withdraw an opt-in — for example the Cambridge programme contact-share if you change your mind after results release.
To exercise any of these rights, message the support team on WhatsApp via the Contact page and tell us the name you entered under. We acknowledge requests within one working day and complete them within thirty days at the latest; most are completed within one working day.
Once a certificate has been issued, the candidate name on the certificate cannot be altered retroactively (the certificate is an issued document with a fixed verification record); we can withdraw the certificate at your request, but cannot replace it with a renamed version.
Retention windows
If anything changes
This policy is reviewed at the start of every Essay Competition season. Material changes — for example a new data category collected, a new third-party processor introduced, or a shortened retention window — are disclosed at the top of this page at least 14 days before they take effect, so please check here before you enter.
Minor wording corrections (clarifying an existing sentence, fixing a typo) are made silently; the “last updated” date at the top of the page is the authoritative version stamp.
Privacy questions
For any privacy-related question, message the support team via the WhatsApp channel on the Contact page. Mention “privacy” or “data” in the first message so the advisor routes you correctly. Substantive privacy requests are escalated to a senior team member; routine clarifications are handled by the first-line support team.