PRIVACY NOTICE

Macmillan Budding Scientist (MBS) & Macmillan Budding Traveller (MBT)

This Privacy Notice explains how Macmillan Education India (“Macmillan”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, shares and retains personal data in connection with the Macmillan Budding Scientist (MBS) and Macmillan Budding Traveller (MBT) programmes (together, the “Competitions”). It is addressed to participating schools, teachers/mentors, and through the school to the parents/legal guardians of participating students, as the primary route by which we can give notice regarding children’s personal data.

This Notice should be read together with the Competition Terms and Conditions and the School Declaration presented during registration. It is issued under, and is intended to support compliance with, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (together, the “DPDP Act”).

1. Who is collecting the data

Macmillan Education India is the Data Fiduciary responsible for the collection and processing of personal data described in this Notice for the purposes of running the Competitions. Participating schools separately act as an independent Data Fiduciary in relation to their own collection and submission of student and parental information; see Section 9 below.

2. What personal data we collect

Depending on the Competition, we collect the following categories of personal data:

Student information: name, class/grade, school name and location, team details (MBS), submitted entry/project title and category, and where applicable student email/contact number.

Teacher/mentor information: name, designation, school affiliation, email address and mobile number.

Submitted content: project abstracts, presentations, reports, prototype demonstrations, photographs, videos, picture slideshows, and voice recordings/narrations submitted as part of an entry.

Event and evaluation data: session attendance, presentation recordings, evaluation and assessment records, and award/recognition details. We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal data such as health records, financial information, government identification numbers, or biometric information.

3. Children's personal data

The Competitions are aimed at school students, most of whom are children under the DPDP Act. All registration, submission and communication is carried out through the participating school's authorised teacher/mentor, acting on the school's and, where required, the parent's/guardian's behalf.

Before any student information, photographs, videos or recordings are submitted, the registering school confirms (via the School Declaration) that it has obtained all necessary parental/guardian consent.

4. Why we collect and use this data

We use personal data for:

• Registration and administration of the Competitions
• Verifying participant and school eligibility
• Managing entry/project submission
• Evaluation and judging of entries
• Shortlisting, selection and mentoring of participants
• Organising virtual/physical events, workshops and award ceremonies
• Generating certificates and administering awards
• Programme reporting and impact assessment
• Creating programme-related content (e.g. newsletters, magazines, podcasts) and promoting the Competitions and their outcomes
• Responding to queries from teachers or school

5. Who we share data with

Personal data is accessible only to personnel and partners who need it to deliver the Competitions:

• Macmillan Education India programme and administrative teams
• Academic and institutional partners IITs (MBS) and the British Council (MBT venue/collaboration support) who receive information necessary for evaluation, mentoring, venue coordination, or recognition activities
• Evaluators and jury members, who receive only the information necessary to assess submissions (for MBT, jurors do not receive any personally identifying student information)
• Technology service providers supporting registration, submission and evaluation platforms
• Event management partners, where required for programme execution

Partners and service providers receive data strictly for the purposes described in this Notice. We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with third parties for their own independent marketing purposes.

6. Publication of entries and recognition

Shortlisted participants, finalists and winners may be featured across Macmillan's programme communications, including websites, digital platforms, social media, newsletters, magazines, podcasts, press releases and marketing materials. This may include student name, school name, city, project/entry title, photographs, videos and achievement details, always subject to the school's confirmation that the necessary parental/guardian permissions have been obtained.

7. How long we keep data

We retain participant data and submitted content for as long as necessary to administer the Competition, complete evaluation and awards, maintain programme records, respond to queries or disputes, support future programme communications, and meet audit or legal requirements, in accordance with Macmillan's data retention policy.

8. Your rights

Data Principals (or, in the case of a child, their parent/guardian acting through the school) may exercise rights available under the DPDP Act, including the right to access, correct, update, or request erasure of personal data, and to withdraw consent, by contacting us using the details in Section 10. Requests relating to a specific student should be routed through the participating school.

9. The school's separate role

The participating school independently determines how it collects student and parental information and what it submits to Macmillan for the purposes of participation; it is a separate Data Fiduciary in respect of that collection and submission, and is responsible for obtaining valid consent/authorisation, including parental/guardian consent for participating minors, before sharing that information with Macmillan.

10. Contact us

For questions about this Notice or to exercise a data protection right, please contact: [ Data Protection contact name, designation, email, postal address to be inserted by Macmillan].

11. Changes to this Notice

We may update this Notice from time to time. The version applicable at the time of registration will be recorded against the school's declaration.

Version: [1.0]

REGISTRATION DECLARATION

Macmillan Budding Scientist (MBS) / Macmillan Budding Traveller (MBT)

1. Registrant type

I am a teacher/mentor or Principal registering on behalf of a participating school. I confirm that:

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Macmillan Budding Scientist (MBS) & Macmillan Budding Traveller (MBT)

These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern participation in the Macmillan Budding Scientist (MBS) and Macmillan Budding Traveller (MBT) programmes (each a “Competition”), organised by Macmillan Education India (“Macmillan”, “we”, “us”). References to the “Registering Party” mean whichever of the following registers the student, as identified at registration under the Registration Declaration: (a) a participating school, acting through an authorised teacher/mentor or Principal (“School Route”); (b) the student’s parent/legal guardian, registering directly (“Guardian Route”); or (c) another authorised representative acting under documented parental/guardian authorisation (“Representative Route”) . By completing registration, the Registering Party accepts these Terms and confirms the applicable declaration under the Registration Declaration has been made truthfully. These Terms should be read together with the Privacy Notice and the Registration Declaration for the relevant Competition.

1. Organiser

The Competitions are conceived, organised and run entirely by Macmillan Education India. Institutions named in these Terms as “partners” including IITs and the British Council provide academic expertise, credibility or venue support only. They are not sponsors of the Competitions and do not fund, underwrite or provide prizes, and do not independently determine any Competition rule, judging outcome or prize.

2. Eligibility

• Participation is open to students enrolled at a participating school (School Route), or, where activated, to homeschooled or independently registered students via the Guardian Route or Representative Route.
• A student may only participate if registered by a Registering Party who has completed the applicable track of the Registration Declaration a schoolteacher/mentor or Principal (School Route), the student's parent/legal guardian (Guardian Route), or another representative holding documented parental/guardian authorisation (Representative Route).
• Team entry (where applicable to MBS) is only available via the School Route, unless Macmillan expressly permits otherwise.
• Macmillan reserves the right to verify eligibility and the authority of the Registering Party at any stage, including requesting evidence of authorisation under the Representative Route, and to disqualify an entry that does not meet these Terms.

3. Registration Process

• School Route: a teacher registers as the school’s mentor by providing their own details and the school Principal’s details on the Macmillan registration platform.
• Guardian Route: the parent/legal guardian registers directly, providing their own details and the student's details.
• Representative Route: the representative registers, providing their own details, the student’s details, and confirms they hold documented parental/guardian authorisation as required under the Registration Declaration.
• In each case, an OTP is sent to the Registering Party’s email address for verification before registration can be completed.
• Once verified, the Registering Party may add participating student details and proceed to submission.
• Registration is only complete once the mandatory declarations applicable to the relevant route in the Registration Declaration (including the Privacy Notice acknowledgement and the parental/guardian assurance, consent, or authorisation confirmation, as applicable) have been accepted.

4. Submission Requirements

Schedule A: MBS

• Entries may take the form of innovation ideas, project abstracts, scientific proposals, presentations, videos, prototype demonstrations, and/or supporting documents and reports, as specified for the applicable programme stage.
• Submissions must be the participant's/team's own original work.
• The Registering Party is responsible for uploading submissions on behalf of the student via the registration platform, within the timelines communicated for each stage.

Schedule B: MBT

• Entries must take the form of a travel narrative, submitted as either a video or a picture slideshow with voice narration.
• The student submits their entry to the Registering Party, who uploads the entry on the student’s behalf via the registration platform.
• Entries must relate to the student’s own genuine travel experience or observation and must be substantially the student's own work.

General submission rules (both Competitions)

• All submissions must be made through the official Macmillan registration platform; entries submitted by any other means will not be considered.
• Macmillan may set file format, size, length or content specifications for each programme stage, which will be communicated to registered participants.
• Late, incomplete or non-conforming submissions may be rejected at Macmillan’s discretion.

5. Programme Stages and Evaluation

Each Competition may include multiple stages, which can include registration, submission, evaluation, virtual interactions (interviews, mentoring sessions, workshops), and final presentations or physical events at partner institutions. Submissions are reviewed by academic experts, jury members and/or programme evaluators appointed by Macmillan.

MBT evaluation to support an unbiased judging process, jurors evaluating MBT entries are given access only to the submitted content and are not shown any personally identifying information about the participant, school (if any) or Registering Party.

The judging criteria applicable to each stage will be communicated to registered participants. All decisions of the jury and of Macmillan on eligibility, shortlisting, and awards are final and binding, and Macmillan is not obliged to enter correspondence regarding those decisions.

6. Ownership and Licence in Submissions

• The participant retains ownership of the intellectual property in their original submission, subject to the licence granted below.
• By submitting an entry, the Registering Party confirms they are authorised to grant, and grant to Macmillan, a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, reproduce, display, adapt (for formatting purposes only) and publish the submission and any related photographs, videos or recordings, for the purposes of running the Competition, judging, certification, programme reporting, and promotion of the Competition and its outcomes, in each case as further described in the Privacy Notice.
• Macmillan will credit the participant's name and school (if any) where an entry is published, except were doing so is inconsistent with the evaluation process described in Section 5 (MBT) or otherwise inappropriate.

7. Originality and Third-Party Content

• By submitting an entry, the Registering Party confirms that the entry is the participant’s own original work (or, for team entries, the team’s own original work) and does not infringe the intellectual property, privacy or other rights of any third party.
• Where an entry includes any third-party material (for example, background music, images, or footage of other individuals), the Registering Party confirms that all necessary rights, licences and consents for that material have been obtained prior to submission.
• Macmillan reserves the right to disqualify any entry found to contain plagiarised, infringing or unauthorised third-party content.

8. Conduct and Prohibited Content

Entries, and any related communication with Macmillan or its partners, must not contain content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, discriminatory, harassing, or otherwise inappropriate, and must not identify or feature any individual (other than the participant) without that individual’s consent or, where that individual is a minor, the consent of their parent/guardian. Macmillan may reject or remove any entry, and disqualify the participant, for breach of this Section.

9. Prizes, Certificates and Recognition

Details of prizes, certificates, and recognition applicable to each Competition and stage will be communicated separately to registered participants. Prizes are provided by Macmillan; as set out in Section 1, partner institutions do not sponsor or fund prizes. Prizes are non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash unless Macmillan expressly agrees otherwise.

10. Partners

For MBS, IIT partners provide academic expertise and credibility, including support with evaluation, mentoring or events. For MBT, the British Council provides venue and collaborative support and may receive programme-level information and reports and, where necessary, details of shortlisted participants and winners for programme administration, recognition, or joint communications. Partners do not have independent decision-making authority over Competition rules, judging, or prizes.

11. Children’s Participation

As the Competitions are aimed at school-age students, many participants are minors. Macmillan does not communicate directly with student participants; all communication is conducted through the Registering Party. Registration is conditional on the applicable track of the Registration Declaration being completed truthfully confirming, as relevant, that the school has obtained parental/guardian permissions (School Route), that the Registering Party is the consenting parent/guardian (Guardian Route), or that the Registering Party holds documented parental/guardian authorisation (Representative Route) in each case covering the student's participation and the processing, use and publication of the student's personal data, photographs, videos and recordings as described in the Privacy Notice.

12. Personal Data

Personal data collected in connection with the Competitions is processed as described in the applicable Privacy Notice. By registering, the Registering Party acknowledges they have reviewed the Privacy Notice and, where applicable (School Route), has made it available to parents/guardians.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Macmillan is not liable for any loss, damage, or technical failure (including platform downtime, upload failures, or connectivity issues) affecting a participant's ability to register or submit an entry, save where such loss arises from Macmillan's own wilful default or gross negligence. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

14. Amendment, Postponement and Cancellation

Macmillan may amend these Terms, or postpone, modify or cancel a Competition or any stage of it, at its discretion, including for reasons beyond its reasonable control, and will notify registered participants of any material change.

15. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of India. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or a Competition will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts at New Delhi, India.

16. General

• If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in effect.
• These Terms, together with the Privacy Notice and Registration Declaration, constitute the entire agreement between the Registering Party and Macmillan regarding participation in the Competition.
• Queries regarding these Terms may be directed to [the contact details as mentioned in the respective websites].

Version: [1.0]