TechBridge UK is operated by SolveX as a not-for-profit community programme. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. Who We Are
TechBridge UK is a free tech career migration programme for immigrants in the United Kingdom, operated under SolveX. For the purposes of data protection, SolveX is the data controller responsible for your personal information.
Contact: techbridge.solvexng.com
2. What Data We Collect
We collect personal data through Google Forms when you submit an interest application or speaker enquiry. The data we collect includes:
2.1 Participant Applicants
- Full name and email address
- Current city of residence
- Immigration status (Visa / ILR / Citizen / Other)
- Tech interest area and current experience level
- Availability for biweekly sessions
- Personal statement (why you want to join)
- How you heard about TechBridge UK
2.2 Speaker / Volunteer Applicants
- Full name and email address
- LinkedIn profile URL
- Current role and employer
- Area of expertise and preferred module month
- Optional: brief bio or session format preference
3. How We Use Your Data
We use your personal data only for the following purposes:
- To assess your application and place you into a cohort (participants)
- To contact you regarding your cohort schedule, modules, and sessions
- To match speakers to the appropriate programme module
- To track programme outcomes and produce anonymised impact reports
- To contact you with updates about TechBridge UK, including future cohorts
We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or any automated decision-making.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
Under UK GDPR, we process your data on the following legal bases:
- Legitimate interests — to run the programme and communicate with participants and speakers
- Consent — where you have voluntarily submitted your information via our forms
You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us (see Section 9).
5. Data Sharing
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We may share data with:
- Google LLC — as the provider of Google Forms and Google Sheets, where form submissions are stored
- Partner organisations (e.g. Amdari) — only with your explicit consent, where relevant to placement support
All third-party services we use are required to handle your data in compliance with applicable data protection law.
6. Data Retention
We retain your personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this policy. Specifically:
- Participant data is retained for the duration of the programme and up to 12 months after your cohort ends
- Speaker data is retained for up to 24 months to facilitate future cohort planning
You may request deletion of your data at any time (see Section 8).
7. Data Storage & Security
Your data is stored securely in Google Sheets, accessible only to TechBridge UK programme administrators. We take reasonable steps to protect your data from unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. However, no internet transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. Your Rights Under UK GDPR
You have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
- Right to access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
- Right to rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
- Right to erasure — ask us to delete your data
- Right to restrict processing — ask us to limit how we use your data
- Right to data portability — request your data in a portable format
- Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the details in Section 9. We will respond within 30 days.
9. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us via the TechBridge UK website at techbridge.solvexng.com.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on our website. We will notify active participants of any material changes via the programme WhatsApp group.