Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how the University of Auckland collects, uses, stores, protects, and manages personal information collected through the SPARX, including the SPARX website, desktop application, and mobile applications.

We are committed to:

• Making sure your information is kept private.
• Protecting your personal information using appropriate security measures.
• Holding all personal information in a way that complies with the Privacy Act 2020 and any other applicable privacy legislation.

For more information about your rights on our website and SPARX, please read our terms and conditions.

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information you register for, access or use SPARX, as well as information that may be collected automatically while using SPARX.
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The University of Auckland collects and holds personal information through SPARX for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

When you register as a user and/or use SPARX you agree that we can use any personal information we collect according to the terms of this Privacy Policy. We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, by updating it on the website. You should review this Privacy Policy periodically for updates.

In this Privacy Policy:

• Personal information has the meaning in the Privacy Act 2020 and generally refers to information about an identifiable individual.
• SPARX means the website, desktop application, mobile application and related services.
• Terms means the SPARX Terms and Conditions
• We, our, and us mean the University of Auckland

We collect personal information that you choose to provide when using the SPARX website and related SPARX services.

This may include information collected when you:

• Register for a SPARX account.
• Use the SPARX programme.
• Complete assessments, activities, or questionnaires within SPARX.
• Contact us through support services or online forms.
• Submit information through the SPARX contact form.
• Provide feedback about SPARX.

Depending on how you use SPARX, this information may include:

• Username.
• Age range.
• Ethnicity.
• Gender.
• Email address.
• Information about how you heard about SPARX.
• Information contained in messages, enquiries, support requests, or feedback you send to us.
• Responses you provide while using SPARX, including information entered through assessments, activities, and questionnaires.

SPARX automatically uses the information you provide to personalise your experience and respond to your choices. We also use your information:

• to administer your account (for example, we use your email address to send you a new password).
• from the questions on the website to help determine if SPARX is right for you.
• To provide and improve SPARX.
• To respond to enquiries, support requests, and feedback.
• To enforce or apply our Terms.
• To protect our rights, property, safety, and the integrity of SPARX.
• To communicate with you about SPARX and related services from time to time.

We may combine your information with information from other users in a way that does not identify individuals in order to:

• Monitor if SPARX is effective.
• Generate an overall view of who uses SPARX.
• Analyse trends and improve SPARX.
• Carry out our internal business operations, including legal compliance, quality assurance and service management.
• Collect usage statistics and analytics to enable us develop, maintain, and improve SPARX.
• Provide summary reports containing anonymous information to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora to support the ongoing delivery and evaluation of SPARX.

Only authorised members of the SPARX team have access to personal information and only for the purposes above.
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The email address and/or mobile number you provide will be encrypted. This means it is stored and used under the cover of a 'secret code' so that your identity is protected. SPARX is funded by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. To help determine if SPARX is reaching its intended users and achieving its intended purpose, we provide summary reports that do not contain identifying information about individual users.
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From time to time, Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora may wish to ask for feedback about SPARX. To facilitate this, we may provide your email address to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora so they can contact you directly to request your feedback.
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Providing feedback is voluntary. We will not share any other personal information we hold about you without your consent, or, if you are under 16 years of age, without your consent and the written consent of your parent or guardian, unless required or permitted by law. We may also use anonymised information for research and evaluation purposes.
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We may use identifying information for research only where you have given consent for us to do so, or where otherwise permitted by law.
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We may publish research findings, but we do not include information that identifies individual users.
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You may ask us to stop collecting your information going forward, and we can deactivate your account

Most of the information we collect is necessary to support your use of SPARX. If you do not provide the information requested, you may be unable to use some or all features of SPARX.
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Some information is required for us to create and administer your account, provide support, and operate SPARX. If you choose not to provide this information, we may be unable to provide some or all SPARX services.

SPARX is for New Zealand users only. Registration may be restricted if your IP address is from outside New Zealand.

Some questions allow you to select options such as "Prefer not to answer". Where these options are available, you may choose not to provide certain information while still being able to use SPARX.

We will not release personal information about you to third party except:

• Where required or permitted by law.
• Where you have authorised us to do so.
• Where you request support through the SPARX website, including through the online chat or help functions, we may share the information you provide with Whakarongorau Aotearoa New Zealand Telehealth Services so they can provide advice, support, or counselling services.
• Where trusted service providers assist us in operating, maintaining, hosting, securing, or supporting SPARX and are authorised to access information only for those purposes.

We do not sell or rent out your personal information under any circumstances.

SPARX may contain links to third-party websites, applications, or services. We do not control the content or privacy practices of those services and recommend reviewing their privacy policies separately.

We take reasonable steps to keep your information safe and secure.
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Information is stored within secure University of Auckland environments and protected using appropriate technical and organisational safeguards.
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Access to personal information is restricted to authorised personnel and approved service providers who require access for approved operational, support, research, administrative, or security purposes.

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to:

If you request account deletion or deactivation, we will take reasonable steps to delete or anonymise your personal information within a reasonable timeframe unless we are required to retain certain information for legal, auditing, security, operational, or research purposes.
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Some information may remain in secure backup systems for a limited period before being automatically deleted or overwritten.
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To request deletion or deactivation of your account, please contact us using the details below.

You have the right to request access to, and correction of, the personal information we hold about you, subject to any applicable legal exceptions.
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If you would like to access or correct your personal information, please contact us using the details below.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information, or would like to request account deletion, access, or correction, please contact us: 



Website: www.sparx.org.nz 

Contact Page: www.sparx.org.nz/contact 

Email: contact@sparx.org.nz