Terms Of Use for Researchers

These terms and conditions (Terms) are between you and The University of Melbourne (ABN 84 002 705 224) (we, our, us or the University) and govern your use of the SEMA3 (Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment) web-based and mobile application based research platform (the SEMA3 Platform) which is comprised principally of (1) the researcher portal at https://sema3.eresearch.unimelb.edu.au/ (SEMA3 Researcher Portal) to be used by you to create and administer research surveys of persons you have identified and have agreed to participate in your research (Participants); and (2) the mobile-based SEMA3 smartphone applications made available for download by Participants for them to complete your research surveys (SEMA3 App).  By accessing and using the SEMA3 Platform you agree to be bound by and abide by these Terms.

Service access

1.      To request access to the SEMA3 Platform You must successfully complete your online registration via https://sema3.com/contact.html. Upon your acceptance of these Terms and your request for access being approved the University will provide you with access to the SEMA3 Researcher Portal.

2.           Subject to clause 3, you may invite Participants who have agreed to participate in your research project:

2.1      to download the SEMA3 App from either of the following mobile app store providers (each an App Store) subject to their terms and conditions:

2.1.1  Apple Inc (or its subsidiary) – via https://apps.apple.com/au/app/sema3/id1427120118; or

2.1.2  Google LLC (or its subsidiary) – via https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.edu.unimelb.eresearch.sema3; and

2.2      to follow the standard participant-onboarding process outlined in the SEMA3 manual (https://sema3.com/manual.html). 

3.           For any Participant whom you onboard into the SEMA3 Platform, you must:

3.1      ensure the Participant is aware of and agrees to the Additional Terms for Participants.

3.2     ensure you have all required approvals in connection with the conducting of your research (including any ethics or other approval required by the University).

Content provided through the App

4.           Unless you are an employee of the University, or have otherwise agreed with the University, you retain all of your intellectual property rights in any content you input into the SEMA3 Platform or that a Participant inputs into the SEMA3 App (Research Content).  The University does not claim ownership of any of your Research Content (unless you are an employee of the University or have otherwise agreed with the University).

5.           You grant the University a worldwide, royalty free licence to use any of your Research Content (to the extent not already owned by the University), but only for the purposes of (i) providing services to the Researcher using the SEMA3 platform, (ii) for the purposes of the University analysing certain usage statistics of the SEMA3 Platform to improve the SEMA3 Platform or related services, (iii) or for our internal operational purposes.  As part of this you acknowledge that Research Content you input into the SEMA3 Platform will be provided to the Participant.

6.           You represent and warrant that: (a) you own or control the appropriate rights in and to your Research Content, including any intellectual property owned by third parties; and (b) you will not submit, upload, or otherwise make available via the SEMA3 Platform, any Research Content or materials that are in breach of law or are otherwise offensive or inappropriate as determined by us.  You acknowledge that the services provided via the SEMA3 Platform does not include review or moderation of any of your Research Content by the University.

Use of the SEMA3 Platform

7.           You acknowledge and agree that the SEMA3 Platform is owned by the University and will not make any claim you have any intellectual property rights in the SEMA3 Platform (other than any Research Content not already owned by the University).  These terms do not grant you any rights to use the University’s name, brand or trademarks (including SEMA3) except where incidental to you using and receiving the service via the SEMA3 Platform.

8.           The University grants you a non-transferable licence to access and use the SEMA3 Platform and any University content made available through the SEMA3 Platform in accordance with these Terms and solely for the purposes of receiving the SEMA3 Platform services in connection with your research project.

9.           You acknowledge and agree that the research, including the questions and information you seek and obtain via the SEMA3 App are solely your responsibility and it is your sole responsibility to interface with Participants and make all necessary contractual and other arrangements for your research activities with Participants.  The University gives no representations as to the operation of the SEMA3 Platform or the accuracy of any outputs from the SEMA3 Platform and the SEMA3 Platform should be used as a guide only, and not as a source upon which any decisions are made.  Before using any information obtained via the SEMA3 Platform you should independently verify the accuracy, currency or completeness of that information. The University is not liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance upon any information obtained through the SEMA3 Platform.

10.           The University may suspend or cancel your access to or use of the SEMA3 Platform (or any Participant’s use of the SEMA3 App), at any time without prior notice.

11.           You may not circumvent or bypass any technological protection measures in or relating to the SEMA3 Platform or disassemble, decompile or reverse engineer any software or other aspect of the SEMA3 Platform, except and only to the extent that the applicable copyright law expressly permits you to do so. You may not use the SEMA3 Platform for any unauthorised way that could interfere with anyone else's use of the SEMA3 Platform or gain access to any service, data, account or network. You may not enable access to the SEMA3 Platform by unauthorised third-party applications.

12.           You must not knowingly introduce any viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful to the SEMA3 Platform.

Privacy

13.           Any personal information or data submitted via the SEMA3 Platform will be handled by the University in accordance with the SEMA3 Privacy Policy

Warranties and indemnity

14.           To avoid doubt, the University and the mobile device platform from whom you downloaded the SEMA3 App have no obligation to provide maintenance and support services in relation to the SEMA3 Platform which is provided on an “as is” basis.

15.           In addition to any rights you may have under these Terms, you may also have other rights under statutes which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In particular, you may have statutory rights under consumer guarantees or terms which apply to the supply of products or services, which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified by these Terms (collectively, Consumer Guarantees).

16.           These Terms do not exclude, restrict or modify the application of the Consumer Guarantees or any other condition, warranty, guarantee, right or remedy conferred by or implied under any provision of any statute where to do so would (i) contravene the relevant statute; or (ii) cause any part of these Terms to be void and/or unenforceable.

17.           Other than the Consumer Guarantees, the University excludes all warranties, conditions or other terms, whether implied by statute or otherwise including, without limitation, all representations or warranties, either express or implied, about content contained on the SEMA3 Platform or services provided to you through the SEMA3 Platform for any purpose (including representations about the accuracy, currency, completeness or suitability of the information published on the SEMA3 Platform).

18.           Except for liability under the Consumer Guarantees, the University excludes liability for all Losses suffered or incurred by any person: (i) in connection with or in any way relating to the SEMA3 Platform, including any disruption to the SEMA3 Platform or interference with or damage to computer systems or other electronic devices; or (ii) in connection with any errors, omissions or inaccuracies contained in any information published on the SEMA3 Platform, including Losses in connection with your reliance on information obtained through the SEMA3 Platform; and otherwise under or in connection with these Terms.

19.           Except for liability under the Consumer Guarantees, to the extent that the University is unable to exclude its liability under section 18, the University limits its liability, at the University's option and to the maximum extent permitted by law, to: (i) resupplying the services or equivalent services; or (ii) paying the cost of having the services or equivalent services resupplied.

20.           You indemnify the University and each of its directors, officers, employees, agents, advisers, consultants and contractors (collectively, Indemnified Persons) against all Losses arising from or relating to: (i) your or your Participant’s use of the SEMA3 Platform; (ii) your breach of these Terms or breach of law; (iii) your Participant’s failure to comply with the Additional Terms; or (iv) any claim alleging that you or a Participant have infringed the intellectual property or other rights of any person.

21.           If any Indemnified Person suffers or incurs any Loss as a result of your breach of these Terms or other act or omission and the University would have been able to recover those Losses if the Losses were suffered or incurred by the University, then the University will be able to recover those Losses as if those Losses were suffered or incurred by the University.

22.           In these Terms, Losses means all liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses including: (i) direct, indirect or consequential liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses; (ii) legal costs and disbursements, whether incurred or awarded against a party, including costs of investigation, litigation, settlement and compliance with judgments; and (iii) interest, fines and penalties, suffered or incurred by any person, and whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise.

23.        To avoid doubt, the University (rather than the App Store you downloaded the SEMA3 App from), is responsible for addressing any claims relating to the SEMA3 App, including: (i) product liability claims; (ii) any claim that the SEMA3 App fails to confirm to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; and (iii) claims arising under the Consumer Guarantees. Similarly, you and the University acknowledge that, in the event of any third-party claim that the SEMA3 App or your possession or use of the SEMA3 App infringes that third party’s intellectual property rights, the University, (rather than the App Store you downloaded the SEMA3 App from), will be solely responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement and discharge of any such claim.

General

24.           The University may change these Terms at any time. The most current version of these Terms is available at https://sema3.com/legal.html. You agree to be bound by the changed terms if you continue to use the SEMA3 Platform after the terms have changed.

25.           If any part of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that part will be severed and the remaining parts of these Terms will continue in force.

26.           These Terms are governed by the laws applicable in the State of Victoria, Australia and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that State.

27.           If you have any questions, complaints or claims in respect of these Terms or the SEMA3 Platform, please contact sema-team@unimelb.edu.au.

 

Additional Terms for Participants

These Additional Terms are between you and the University of Melbourne (University), and govern your use of the SEMA3 (Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment) application (the App). These Additional Terms and supplement the Google Play and Apple App Store terms applicable to your use of the App plus your arrangements with the Researcher (see clause 2 below) (Third Party Terms).

In the event of any inconsistency between these Additional Terms and the Third Party Terms, these Additional Terms will prevail to the extent of any inconsistency.

By using the App, you are deemed to have read and understood, and agree to be bound by and abide by, these Additional Terms (as amended by the University from time to time).

 

Use of the App

1.      The University grants you a non-transferable licence to access and use the App and any content available through the App on any device that you own or control as permitted by the applicable terms of the App Store.

2.      The App is a tool which allows you to provide input into research that is being conducted by a researcher who may or may not be connected to the University (Researcher) utilising the App. You acknowledge and agree that the research, including the questions and information sought from you via the app are solely determined by the Researcher and you have made separate arrangements with the Researcher in connection with the use of your Content provided to this App. The University gives no representations as to the operation of the App or the accuracy of any outputs from the App and that the App should be used as a guide only, and not as a source upon which any decisions are made. Before using any information obtained through the App you should independently verify the accuracy, currency or completeness of any that information. The University is not liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance upon any information obtained through the App.

3.      The University may suspend or cancel your access to or use of the App, at any time without prior notice.

Content provided through the App

4.      In the course of using the App, you will submit content to the University (which may include your or other people’s personal data) (Content).

5.      Unless you have agreed otherwise with the Researcher, you retain all of your intellectual property rights in your Content.  The University does not claim ownership of any of your Content.

6.      You Grant the University a worldwide, royalty free licence to use your Content, but only for the purposes of (i) providing services to the Researcher using the SEMA3 platform, (ii) for the purposes of the University analysing certain usage statistics of the SEMA3 Platform to improve the SEMA3 Platform or related services, (iii) or for our internal operational purposes.  As part of this you acknowledge that your Content will be provided to the Researcher under arrangements between yourself and the Researcher and the University is not responsible for the use of the Content by the Researcher which is solely a matter between yourself and the Researcher.

Privacy

7.      The University collects, uses, and discloses your personal information in connection with the App as set out in the SEMA3 Privacy Policy.

Use of the App

8.      You acknowledge and agree that the App and the SEMA3 platform is owned by the University and will not make any claim you have any intellectual property rights in the App or the SEMA3 Platform.

9.      You may not circumvent or bypass any technological protection measures in or relating to the App or disassemble, decompile or reverse engineer any software or other aspect of the App, except and only to the extent that the applicable copyright law expressly permits you to do so. You may not use the App for any unauthorised way that could interfere with anyone else's use of the App or gain access to any service, data, account or network. You may not enable access to the App by unauthorised third party applications.

10.      You must not knowingly introduce any viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful to the App.

Warranties and indemnity

11.      To avoid doubt, the University and the device platform you acquired the App through have no obligation to provide maintenance and support services in relation to the App and the App is provided on an “as is” basis.

12.      In addition to any rights you may have under these Additional Terms, you may also have other rights under statutes which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In particular, you may have statutory rights under consumer guarantees or terms which apply to the supply of products or services , which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified by these Additional Terms (collectively, Consumer Guarantees).

13.      These Additional Terms do not exclude, restrict or modify the application of the Consumer Guarantees or any other condition, warranty, guarantee, right or remedy conferred by or implied under any provision of any statute where to do so would (i) contravene the relevant statute; or (ii) cause any part of these Additional Terms to be void and/or unenforceable.

14.      Other than the Consumer Guarantees, the University excludes all warranties, conditions or other terms, whether implied by statute or otherwise including, without limitation, all representations or warranties, either express or implied, about content contained on the App or services provided to you through the App for any purpose (including representations about the accuracy, currency, completeness or suitability of the information published on the App).

15.      Except for liability under the Consumer Guarantees, the University excludes liability for all Losses suffered or incurred by any person: (i) in connection with or in any way relating to the App, including any disruption to the App or interference with or damage to computer systems or other electronic devices; or (ii) in connection with any errors, omissions or inaccuracies contained in any information published on the App, including Losses in connection with your reliance on information obtained through the App; and otherwise under or in connection with these Additional Terms.

16.      Except for liability under the Consumer Guarantees, to the extent that the University is unable to exclude its liability under section 11, the University limits its liability, at the University's option and to the maximum extent permitted by law, to: (i) resupplying the Services or equivalent services; or (ii) paying the cost of having the Services or equivalent services resupplied.

17.      You indemnify the University and each of its directors, officers, employees, agents, advisers, consultants and contractors (collectively, Indemnified Persons) against all Losses arising from or relating to: (i) your use of the App; (ii) your breach of these Additional Terms or breach of law; (iii) your breach of any Third Party Terms; or (iv) any claim alleging that you have infringed the intellectual property or other rights of any person.

18.      If any Indemnified Person suffers or incurs any Loss as a result of your breach of these Additional Terms or other act or omission and the University would have been able to recover those Losses if the Losses were suffered or incurred by the University, then the University will be able to recover those Losses as if those Losses were suffered or incurred by the University.

19.      In these Additional Terms, Losses means all liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses including: (i) direct, indirect or consequential liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses; (ii) legal costs and disbursements, whether incurred or awarded against a party, including costs of investigation, litigation, settlement and compliance with judgments; and (iii) interest, fines and penalties, suffered or incurred by any person, and whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise.

20.    To avoid doubt, the University, not the App Store, is responsible for addressing any claims relating to the App, including:

(i) product liability claims; (ii) any claim that the App fails to confirm to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; and (iii) claims arising under the Consumer Guarantees. Similarly, you and the University acknowledge that, in the event of any third party claim that the App or your possession or use of the App infringes that third party’s intellectual property rights, the University will be solely responsible for the investigation, defence, settlement and discharge of any such claim.

General

21.      You warrant that you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a “terrorist supporting” country, and that you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

22.      The University may change these Additional Terms at any time. The most current version of these Additional Terms is available at https://sema3.com/legal.html. You agree to be bound by the changed terms if you continue to use the App after the terms have changed.

23.      If any part of these Additional Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that part will be severed and the remaining parts of these Additional Terms will continue in force.

24.      These terms are governed by the laws applicable in the State of Victoria, Australia and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that State.

25.      If you have any questions, complaints or claims in respect of these Additional Terms or the App, please contact sema-team@unimelb.edu.au.

26.      You and the University acknowledge and agree that each App Store is a third party beneficiary of these Additional Terms. Upon your acceptance of these Additional Terms each App Store will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Additional Terms against you as a third party beneficiary.

Privacy Policy

The SEMA3 (Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment) web-based and mobile application based research platform (the SEMA3 Platform) is comprised principally of (1) the researcher portal at https://sema3.eresearch.unimelb.edu.au/ (SEMA3 Researcher Portal) to be used by Researchers to create and administer research surveys of persons they have identified and agreed to participate in their research (Participants); and (2) the mobile-based SEMA3 smartphone applications made available for download by Participants for them to complete research surveys (SEMA3 Apps). The SEMA3 Platform collects ecological momentary assessment (aka ‘experience sampling’) data via the SEMA3 Apps.

Personal information will be managed in accordance with the University of Melbourne’s privacy obligations. We are governed by applicable privacy laws, including the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Victoria) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Victoria) when processing personal and health information. To the extent that they apply to our activities, we are also subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (which relates to individuals located in the European Economic Area). (Together, ‘Privacy Laws’).

The SEMA3 Platform collects and processes your personal information to:

●      administer access to and use of the SEMA3 Platform; and

●      facilitate the collection of research data by Researchers from their Participants via the SEMA3 Platform.

The “processing" of personal information refers to all activities relating to the management of your personal information, from its collection and use, through to its storage and disposal, and everything in between.

We will process your personal information as necessary for our legitimate interests, in accordance with applicable privacy laws, and only under the following circumstances:

●      for the purpose for which it was collected; or

●      a related purpose which you might reasonably expect; or

●      where you have consented to the processing; or

●      if we are required or permitted to do so by law.

We will collect your personal information directly from you wherever possible.

Participant users’ personal information (e.g., email, phone number, name) is not recorded in the SEMA3 Platform. Participants are identified only with a unique 9-digit numeric identifier (Eg: 78657615), which is linked to their hashed (encrypted) emails to enable one-way mapping for the purpose of verifying whether a Participant has an existing SEMA3 Platform user account when invited to a new study. Participants receive invitations to partake in a study via email, sent using third-party platform MailGun.

As raw data stored on local servers are only identifiable via a 9-digit Participant identifier, the Researcher administering a survey via the SEMA3 Platform is responsible for keeping records of Participant identifiers, if required. Data collected from Participants cannot be re-identified by the SEMA3 Platform or University of Melbourne.

We take great care to ensure that personal information is handled, stored and disposed of confidentially and securely. Raw data collected via the SEMA3 Platform can only be accessed by Researchers administering the research survey and members of the Melbourne eResearch Group (MeG) development team. Researchers access their survey data via secure login to the SEMA3 Researchers Portal.

The SEMA3 Platform uses Google Firebase services, such as Firebase Cloud Functions, as the main API to communicate between the SEMA3 Researcher Portal, SEMA3 Apps, and the SEMA3 Cloud Server (also hosted by Google). All communication is encrypted using industry standard (HTTPS) data security protocols. All data are stored in an instance of Google’s cloud-based Firestore database, which may host data in the United States of America and/or in other international jurisdictions.

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that any interstate or overseas transfer of personal information is in accordance with this privacy statement, relevant University policies and the Privacy Laws, as applicable.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to external websites that may be linked in surveys created in the SEMA3 Platform. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites.

The SEMA3 Platform allows Researchers to delete data from individual participants or an entire study directly. We recommend Participants direct requests to have their data permanently deleted from the SEMA3 Platform to the Researcher responsible for administering the relevant SEMA3 study. In case of any difficulties with data deletion, Participants and/or Researchers should contact us via email (SEMA-team@unimelb.edu.au). Please be aware that data deletion is permanent and cannot be reversed.

Refer to the University’s General Privacy Statement or other privacy statements for general information about how we process and protect personal information, including:

●      our lawful basis for processing personal information;

●      collection, use and disclosure of personal information;

●      accuracy, security and storage of personal information;

●      retention and disposal of personal information;

●      your individual rights; and

●      applicable privacy laws.

You may request access to, or correction of, your personal information we hold, or exercise your individual rights as applicable under relevant privacy laws, unless this would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others or would contravene the University’s other legislative obligations.

If the lawful collection of your personal information is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of our processing of your information prior to you withdrawing your consent.

For further information you can contact us at SEMA-team@unimelb.edu.au. For further information about how the University manages personal information, and for details of how to make an enquiry, lodge a complaint, or to contact the University’s Privacy and Data Protection Officer, please refer to our Privacy webpage, view the University's Privacy Policy or contact privacy-officer@unimelb.edu.au.

We may, at any time and at our discretion, vary this Privacy Policy by publishing the amended policy on our website. We recommend you check our website regularly to ensure you are aware of our current policies.

Last updated: February 2023