Terms and Conditions

Last updated on 12th December 2019

 

Welcome to the OUP Educational Research Forum ("Site"). These Terms and Conditions (the "Terms") set forth the Agreement between Oxford University Press ("OUP", "we" or "us") and each panel member (“you”, “your”) governing the use by you of this Site. Please read these Terms carefully before using this Site. By using this Site, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions contained in these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access, apply for a panel membership account or otherwise use this Site.

We reserve the right to change, add or remove portions of these Terms at any time at our sole discretion. The “Last Updated” date at the top of these Terms will indicate when the latest modifications were made and any such changes will come into effect on that date. It is your responsibility to check these Terms periodically for changes. Your continued use of this Site after these Terms have been changed will mean that you accept and agree to the changes. In addition, when using particular services or features on this Site, you may be subject to any posted guidelines or policies applicable to such services or features that may be posted from time to time. All such guidelines or policies are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms. Provided you comply with these Terms, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited privilege to enter access and use this Site.


OUP Partner Code of Conduct

By agreeing to become a panel member you further agree to the OUP Partner Code of Conduct and to the Site's Panel Member Code of Conduct (see below).


Eligibility

Panel membership is free and is open to individuals only (not corporations or other business entities) who are teachers, senior leaders or professionals in education and meet our recruitment criteria. Participation in certain research projects may be further restricted based on age or geographic location. Panel members must be at least eighteen (18) years of age and actively working in education (e.g. not retired). You are permitted to have only one panel membership account. 

You hereby warrant and represent that you have approval from your employer (e.g. Head Teacher) to provide the services required of a panel member as described in these Terms. The following persons may not apply for panel membership: examination awarding body chief examiners, authors of OUP publications, employees of OUP, and spouses of employees of OUP.

 

Conflict of Interest

During your period of panel membership, you must not be employed by any other publisher in the field of educational publishing (e.g. as author, editor or freelancer) without the prior consent of OUP. Should you wish to provide any such services or take up any such employment or provide such services you will inform us in writing in advance. You acknowledge that this restriction is reasonable in order to protect the business interests of OUP.

You must notify us immediately of any such activities or circumstances that give rise to or could give rise to a conflict of interests between your role as a panel member and any other obligation you may be subject to. In the event of a conflict of interest arising during the course of a project, OUP reserves the right to terminate the project and your panel membership.

 

Your Panel Member Account

While you may access the public front page of this Site without registering for a member account, in order for an account to be established in your name and to participate as a panel member, you must complete the provided online registration. To open a panel member account, you must provide complete and valid contact information, and all other requested information. Your account must have a unique and valid e-mail address and password.

You agree to provide only accurate, current and complete registration information and to keep that information updated in order to maintain its accuracy. We may terminate or suspend your panel membership and you may forfeit your rewards if you fail to provide or keep your personal information accurate and complete.

You may use only one (1) password to open and access your account, and you may not use another account holder's password or allow anyone else to use your password, for any reason. You are solely responsible for the security of your user name and password and any activity that occurs under your panel member account, whether authorized or unauthorized. We will not be responsible for any losses incurred through the use of your password by a third party, except when unauthorised use is directly attributable to the gross negligence or wilful misconduct of OUP. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use or breach of your panel member account.

Should you forget your password, you may request that we send it to you via e-mail by either contacting us at support@educationalresearchforum.com and requesting a new password, or completing the Forgot Password request process using the Contact Us link on the Site. This procedure assumes that mention is made of your username, and that the e-mail address provided by you when registering is used (or the new one provided in the event of an update).

By registering as a member of this Site, you agree to receive e-mail invitations to participate in surveys, online forums and other market research projects conducted by or for OUP. We do not guarantee that you will receive a certain minimum number of invitations or any invitations at all. Your participation in any projects and your disclosure of any personal data is completely voluntary.

We retain the right to monitor all panel member activity within the Site. If required by law, or if you have violated the Panel Member Code of Conduct below, or in the event that your panel member account shows signs of fraud, abuse or suspicious activity, or as otherwise deemed necessary by us (for instance where you do not respond to a reasonable number of requests to participate in research projects) your panel member account may be terminated. If you have conducted any fraudulent activity, we reserve the right to take any necessary legal action and may have grounds to confiscate any rewards redeemed as a result of such activity. In addition, you may be liable for monetary losses to OUP, including litigation costs and damages, and you will not be allowed to participate in the Site in the future.

 

Information you make public on the Site

You should be aware that any information you choose to make public on the Site, in the Community area (as an opinion or topic in a message board or live chat or any other public area or forum) can be read, collected, or used by other users and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the information you choose to submit or make public in this way. In addition, we are not responsible for the content you publicly post on the Site that can be found via web-based search engines.
 

Modifying your Profile

You are provided with a Panel members Area on the Site; here you may correct or update your panel membership information or delete your panel membership. If you need to correct or update any of your profile information, you may do so by clicking on Your Profile after logging in. By following the appropriate directions, your information should be automatically updated in the Site's database.

You have the right to request access to your data held by OUP. In order to request this data you may contact us at support@educationalresearchforum.com
 

Termination of Membership

You may cancel your account at any time by activating the "Unsubscribe" feature on this Site. You may do so by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the Site pages. Alternatively, members can submit a request via the Contact Us form or send an e-mail to support@educationalresearchforum.com with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Your account will be cancelled if you withdraw or unsubscribe from the Site. Upon your unsubscribing, cancellation or withdrawal from the Site, your panel member account will be closed. In most cases it will take 2 to 3 days to process this change, but it may take up to two full weeks for your status to be finalised. In the meantime, you may receive e-mails from us. You understand and agree that, as noted above, upon closing your account, your right to access your panel member account will cease. We reserve the right to terminate your panel member account at any time for any reason.

On termination or cancellation of your panel member account, your ability to redeem Points will immediately cease and any Points which have been accumulated will immediately be taken out of your account.

If you wish to unsubscribe from all market research and marketing communications from OUP, please send an e-mail to support@educationalresearchforum.com with the words "Global Unsubscribe" in the subject line. Please note that this will not only terminate your panel membership but you will also no longer receive notifications of new Oxford products, special offers or discounts, or free sample resources from Oxford.

Non-Acceptance

We reserve the right to reject your application to become a panel member or to take part in particular research projects without any reason and without notice to you.
 

Research Projects

Participation in any research project is voluntary. You may be invited to participate in research in a number of ways, including but not limited to:

  • Respond to queries by e-mail
  • Take part in polls
  • Complete online surveys
  • Take part in telephone or face-to-face interviews
  • Take part in online forums
  • Take part in face-to face focus groups
  • Review OUP publishing proposals
  • Trial OUP products/services
  • Allow occasional research visits to your school/college by OUP staff at a convenient time for you

We may share your contact details with partner market research agencies carrying out research projects for OUP. By joining the Panel, you are agreeing to and authorising OUP to pass on your contact details to our partner research agencies. Those agencies may contact you about taking part in specific projects for OUP, although you do not have to respond and participation is optional. Your contact details will be deleted by the relevant agency or agencies at the end of a project. None of those agencies will contact you for any other purpose.
 

Cancellation/Postponement of Projects

OUP reserves the right to cancel projects, meetings, or events in which a panel member may have agreed to participate. In the event of such events being impossible to reschedule, no reward will be made for that particular project/ event so long as not less than 24 hours' notice has been given to the e-mail address which you have provided to us.
 

Rewards – Points and Redemption

OUP values panel members' contributions on the Site and, to show our appreciation, offers rewards in the form of Points.

When you complete a survey, you may receive Points which will be posted to your account within 30 days of the completion of the survey. The number of Points you will receive for completion of each survey may vary and will be announced prior to each project.

Points may be redeemed for a variety of items that can change from time to time at our sole discretion. We reserve the right to change the Point value structure or other incentives within the recruitment of a survey. At our sole discretion we reserve the right to suspend, terminate, revalue or modify, without liability or the provision of advance notice to you, all or part of the Point value structure and offers. We further reserve the right to adjudicate all Point discrepancies in our sole discretion, and you agree to abide with any such adjudication. In the event the Point program is terminated, you will be notified and given at least 30 days in which you must redeem your Points.

On termination or cancellation of your panel member account the position regarding your ability to redeem Points will immediately cease and any Points which have been accumulated will immediately be taken out of your account.

We take reasonable care to ensure Points are accurately deposited in your account. However you are responsible for ensuring that your account balance is accurate and we will not be held liable for any errors or omissions concerning Points. You must alert us in writing of any error within 30 days of when such error occurred. Points have no commercial value and may not in any circumstances be transferred or sold to any third party. Points may only be redeemed for the items indicated on the Rewards page of the Site. Liability for any applicable taxes imposed by any government on any monies you earn or donations you make through the redemption of Points is your sole responsibility.

For selected projects, OUP may offer rewards outside the rewards program.

All rewards made by OUP (whether financial or otherwise) will be made on the following basis:

  • The rewards offered will be specified prior to your agreement to participate in any particular market research project;
  • The rewards will only be due if you fulfil the research requirements as specified in the project briefing e-mail or documents and to the agreed time schedule;
  • Any rewards you receive for participation in our market research will be the only compensation you will receive for your participation.


Relationship

You are responsible for providing any computer equipment and communications services necessary to connect to and access this Site. You agree that neither your membership to this Site nor your completion of any projects for the Community create any agency, partnership or employment relationship, and that your completion of projects is strictly as an independent consumer. You also agree that any rewards you receive for completing projects are the only compensation you will receive for your completion of such projects.

 

Site Member Code of Conduct

The Educational Research Forum is dedicated to making your voice heard and allowing you to tell OUP what you think. When you use and post content to this Site you must observe the following rules:

  • Be courteous and respect the opinions of others and behave in a manner that supports a safe and comfortable environment for all members.
  • Do not post any of the following:
    • Material that advocates illegal activity or political, religious or ideological beliefs.
    • Personal attacks or anything (including "jokes" that may be misconstrued) obscene, vulgar, illegal, harmful, discriminatory, racist, xenophobic, insulting, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libellous, untrue, misleading or invasive of someone else's privacy or anything that is in any way pornographic or paedophiliac or that refers directly or indirectly to pornographic or paedophiliac sites.
    • Advertising and solicitations - Do not use any Site areas to buy or solicit for goods, services, or money, or to advertise or sell products or services to others. For example, do not post any advertising, referrals, promotional materials, junk mail, "spam," chain letters, pyramid schemes or any other form of solicitation.
    • Any content that infringes any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right of another or that, without prior written permission, mentions any third party brand or personality or uses any third party content.
    • Any statement that expresses or implies that any actions you take are endorsed by OUP.
  • Act in good faith when taking part in Surveys and discussions, so your answers should be true to the best of your knowledge and belief and genuine, e.g. your answers should be your own opinion (and not others) and you should take care not to speed through a Survey or answer each question the same way. OUP reserves the right to withhold awarding rewards to you if, in OUP’s reasonable view, your Survey responses are untruthful or not well considered.
  • Do not access or use any part of the Site for anything other than your personal, non-commercial use.
  • Do not access or use any part of the Site in any way that may violate any applicable law, regulation, or other governmental requirement and/or principles of good conduct.
  • Do not resell, barter, trade or otherwise attempt to generate income by providing access to your member account to others.
  • Do not impersonate any individual or entity, including, without limitation, an OUP employee, agent or client, or other Site members or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including by "framing" any portion of this Site to make it look like you have a relationship with us or that we have endorsed you for any purpose.
  • Do not attempt to circumvent the Site or any security measures used on the Site, including by requesting rankings from other members or posting content which does not respond to or pose any question in order to garner rewards.
  • Do not release, publish or otherwise disclose or make reference to any Survey or Site content in any media without our prior written permission.
  • Do not collect or store any personal information about other members of this Site and in particular do not obtain email addresses of other Site members or third parties with a view to sending unsolicited emails, for whatever reason or purpose.
  • Do not attempt to access any service or area of the Site or any Surveys, the server on which our Site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our Site that you are not authorised to access.
  • Do not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means or interface not provided by us to access the Site or extract data.
  • Do not misuse our Site by knowingly introducing, or sending to or otherwise impact us or this Site (or anything or anyone else) with harmful, illegal, deceptive or disruptive code such as a virus, "spyware", "adware" or other code that could adversely impact this Site or any recipient or take any action, such as a denial of service attack, that might impose a burden on this Site's infrastructure or interfere with the ordinary operation of this Site. You must not attack our Site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.
  • Do not re-post on the Site any statements you receive from OUP, the Site Help Desk or Customer Support.
  • Do not communicate with the Site help desk in a manner which is obscene, vulgar, harmful, insulting, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libellous, untrue or misleading.
  • Do not engage in any other activity that OUP may reasonably deem improper or abusive. Failure to comply with this Code of Conduct may result in termination of your member account.
  • By breaching any of these provisions in this Code of Conduct, you may be committing a criminal offence under local applicable law. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our Site will cease immediately.

 

Confidentiality

All work carried out for OUP is confidential and must not be disclosed to any third parties. As a panel member you may receive commercially sensitive and other confidential information relating to OUP's publishing plans or services. You undertake to keep all such information received from OUP confidential and not to disclose to any other party. In the case of documents or sample materials, these are provided on the terms that they are not to be copied, published or distributed to a third party.

The confidential information you receive may include, but is not limited to, new product ideas or concepts, marketing and advertising concepts, and the text, visual images and sounds related thereto. By becoming a panel member, you agree that you will keep the contents and materials disclosed to you as part of all research in which you participate confidential and not disclose them to any third party or use the confidential information for any purpose except for the sole purpose of completing the research projects.

If you breach this obligation, in addition to termination of your account, you may be liable for monetary damages to OUP for damages caused by the result of your breach.

 

Panel Member Content and Licence

You hereby grant OUP a non-exclusive, perpetual, unlimited, worldwide, royalty-free right to use for any purpose any content you submit to this Site (e.g., your opinions, ideas and survey responses), including the right to edit, copy, transmit, publish, display, modify, distribute, create derivative works from and develop such content and to transfer such content to third parties. You, not OUP, will have sole responsibility and liability for all content you use, upload, post or submit to the Site, including on our message boards and in any survey in which you participate, including the obligation to obtain any necessary approvals and authorizations required to post such content. By submitting such content to the Site, you release OUP from any obligation to compensate you in respect of use of such content in any form, including without limitation, for commercial use and hereby waive any moral rights that you might otherwise have been able to exercise in respect of that content.

You hereby waive any moral rights (as provided in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) that may vest in you in relation to any use we may make of your Contributions.

Intellectual Property

You acknowledge that all materials on the Site, including the Site's design, graphics, text, sounds, pictures, software and other files and the selection and arrangement thereof (collectively, "Materials") are the exclusive property of OUP or its licensors and subject to and protected by United Kingdom and international copyright and other intellectual property laws and rights. Except as expressly authorized by these Terms or on the Site, you may not copy, reproduce, distribute, republish, download, perform, display, post, transmit, exploit, create derivative works or otherwise use any of the Materials in any form or by any means, without the prior written authorisation of OUP or by intellectual property rights owner. You are authorized to view and download the Materials only for personal, non-commercial use, provided that you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the original Materials. You may not modify or adapt the Materials in any way or otherwise use them for any public or commercial purposes.

All trademarks, service marks, logos and trade names used on this Site are the property of OUP or their respective owners and may not be copied, imitated or otherwise used, in whole or in part. All rights are reserved.

 

Notice of Copyright Agent

OUP respects the intellectual property rights of others and requests that you do the same. If you believe that your work has been reproduced in this Site in a way constituting copyright infringement, you may provide a notice to the designated Copyright Agent for the Site at support@educationalresearchforum.com containing the following:

  • An electronic or physical signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
  • Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
  • The address, telephone number, and, if available, an e-mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
  • A representation that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  • A representation that the information in the notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

 

Disclaimer of Warranties

OUP is not responsible for the actions of any third party, such as the issuers of any e-rewards, gift cards, vouchers or other rewards.

You expressly agree that your use of this Site and your panel member account is at your sole risk. You agree that this Site, all information on this Site, and the services offered by this and their functionality are provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE." OUP is not responsible for typographical errors regardless of source. In addition, OUP does not represent or warrant that the information accessible on this Site is accurate, complete, or current. You hereby release OUP and its affiliates from all liability regarding the redemption and use of any rewards. Except as otherwise expressly provided in these terms or required by law, OUP and its affiliates or agents disclaim all warranties, conditions and duties, express, implied or otherwise, including but not limited to any implied warranties, duties or conditions: (a) of satisfactory quality, of fitness for a particular purpose or use, of results, and of accuracy or completeness or privacy or security of information; (b) the site will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; (c) created by trade usage, course of dealing or course of performance. OUP further disclaims all duties to you, if any such duties exist, including but not limited to reasonable care, workmanlike effort, freedom from computer virus, and lack of negligence. OUP further makes no warranty of title or against interference with your enjoyment of any aspect of the complete site, or against infringement. Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of the site is done at your own discretion and risk and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any such material. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from OUP on or through the site shall create any warranty not expressly stated in these terms.

 

Limitation of Liability

With the exception of personal injury or death resulting from their negligence or any liability for fraud, OUP shall not under any circumstances be liable for any damages of any kind arising out of, in connection with or relating to the use of or inability to use the site, including any liability (i) as a publisher of information, (ii) for any incorrect or inaccurate information, (iii) for any unauthorized access to or disclosure of your transmissions or data, (iv) for statements or conduct of any third party on the site, or (vii) for any other matter relating to this Site or any third party website. Subject to the exceptions stated at the beginning of this paragraph this is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including, to the fullest extent allowed by law, for any special, incidental, punitive, consequential or similar general damages, or for damages for lost profits, loss or impairment of privacy, security or data, failure to meet any duty (including but not limited to any duty of good faith, workmanlike effort or of lack of negligence), or for any other similar damages whatsoever that arise out of or are related to any breach or other aspect of the entire agreement or this Site, even if OUP has been advised of the possibility of such damages and even in the event of fault, tort (including negligence) or strict or product liability or misrepresentation.

In no event shall the liability of OUP or its affiliates, successors, assigns, suppliers or agents exceed the actual retail value of an applicable reward at issue, or if a dispute relates generally to your use of the site, to the fair market retail value of the rewards which your unused, non-cancelled rewards are convertible into.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of certain warranties or the limitation or exclusion of liability for certain types of damages. Accordingly, some of the above disclaimers and limitations may not apply to you. In such jurisdictions, the exclusions and liability are limited to the fullest extent permitted by law.

 

Indemnification

You agree to compensate and hold OUP and its affiliated companies, together with their officers, directors, owners, employees and agents harmless from any and all claims, losses, damages, suits, fines, levies and costs (including reasonable attorney's fees and expert witness costs, including costs associated with in-house counsel), (collectively "Claims"), arising from or related to your use of or conduct on this Site and any content you place on, submit to or transmit through this Site, your breach of these Terms, your infringement or violation of any rights of another, or termination of your access to the Site, including Claims made by third parties. You agree that OUP has the unlimited right to defend any Claim and to settle any Claim without your prior permission. You agree to provide OUP with all reasonable assistance in the defence of any Claim.

 

Links to Third Party Websites

OUP may provide links to third-party Websites as a convenience to you, and the providing of any link does not constitute an endorsement by such site of OUP or vice versa. If you use these links, you will leave the Site. You agree that OUP is not responsible for examining or evaluating the content or accuracy and OUP does not warrant and will not have any liability or responsibility for any third-party materials or Websites, or for any other materials, products, or services of third parties. You will use these links at your own risk. You agree that you will not use any third-party materials in a manner that would infringe or violate the rights of any other party and that OUP is not in any way responsible for any such use by you. OUP expressly disclaims any responsibility for the content, legality, decency or accuracy of any information, and for any products and services, that appear on any third party Website.

 

Governing Law and Exclusive Forum

These Terms and all performances and claims of every nature (including without limitation, contract, tort and strict liability) relating in any way to any aspect of this Site shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes regarding such claims or arising under or related in any way to these Terms or this Site shall be heard exclusively in the appropriate forum in the English courts. You hereby consent to exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts and waive any claim or defence that such forum is not convenient or proper, and consent to service of process by any means authorized by the laws of England and Wales.

 

Notices

Notices to You: We may give you all notices that we are required to give by posting notice on this Site. You also agree that we may give notice by e-mail in our discretion, including notice of subpoenas or other legal process (if any). We may provide notice to any e-mail or other address that you provide during registration. You agree to keep your address current and to check for notices posted on the Site.

 

Entire Agreement; Miscellaneous

These Terms, including items incorporated into them, as well as any additional terms or conditions contained on the Site for particular activities, and disclosures provided by us and consents provided by you on the Site (collectively, the "Entire Agreement"), constitute the entire Agreement between us and neither party has relied on any representations made by the other that are not expressly set forth in the Entire Agreement. If any provision of the Entire Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect, provided that the allocation of risks described herein is given effect to the fullest extent possible. Our failure to act with respect to a breach does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches, and time is of the essence of the Entire Agreement. This Site is controlled from within the United Kingdom. If you access this Site from locations outside the UK, you do so at your own risk and you are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws. You may not use or export anything from the Site in violation of UK export laws and regulations or the Entire Agreement.

You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising from or relating to use of this Site or these Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose, or will be forever barred.

The "Disclaimer of Warranties” and “Limitation of Liability" provisions of these Terms are for the benefit of the Community and its affiliates, agents and licensors, and each of these individuals or entities shall have the right to assert and enforce these provisions directly against you on its own behalf.

 

Entire Agreement

If you have a complaint or require further information about these Terms, you may contact us by e-mail at support@educationalresearchforum.com