Collaboratory is an initiative of the World Health Organization Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence with a digital environment where the pandemic and epidemic intelligence community and communities of practice can convene to address critical challenges that affect the way data is accessed, analysed, visualized, and communicated for better pandemic and epidemic policy and response decision making.
This Privacy Notice describes the information that WHO collects, possesses and discloses through your use of the Collaboratory digital environment. In processing personal data, WHO complies with its personal data framework, comprising the WHO Personal Data Protection Policy and the United Nations Personal Data Protection and Privacy Principles.
What information do we collect?
We collect information from you when you register on the digital environment and gather data when you participate in the digital environment by reading, writing, and evaluating the content shared here.
When registering on this digital environment, you will be asked to provide at minimum your e-mail address. Your e-mail address will be verified by an email containing a unique link. If that link is visited, we know that you control the e-mail address.
When registered and posting, we record the IP address that the post originated from. We also may retain server logs which include the IP address of every request to our server.
What do we use your information for?
Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:
- To personalize your experience — your information helps us to better respond to your individual needs.
- To improve our digital environment — we continually strive to improve our digital environment offerings based on the information and feedback we receive from you.
- To improve member experience — your information helps us to more effectively respond to your member requests and support needs.
- To send periodic emails — The email address you provide may be used to send you information, notifications that you request about changes to topics or in response to your user name, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
How do we protect your information?
We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you enter, submit, or access your personal information.
All personal information collected in this digital environment is stored in databases hosted in WHO’s secure cloud infrastructure.
What is our data retention policy?
We will keep your personal information for as long as your account is active.
We will make a good faith effort to retain server logs containing the IP address of all requests to this server for no more than 365 days.
Do we use cookies?
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow). These cookies enable the site to recognize your browser, and, if you have a registered account, associate it with your registered account.
We use cookies to understand and save your preferences for future visits and compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may contract with third-party service providers to assist us in better understanding our site visitors. These service providers are not permitted to use the information collected on our behalf except to help us conduct and improve our business.
Third party cookies
Some of the cookies you may receive when using the digital environment are not related to the Collaboratory. For example, pages on the digital environment that contain embedded content may place cookies on your device (e.g., Vimeo videos).
WHO does not govern the settings or use of these third-party cookies, so we suggest that you visit these websites for more information about their cookies and applicable privacy policies. WHO cannot be held responsible for the privacy of data collected by websites that it does not own or manage, even if these websites link to a WHO website outside of the Collaboratory digital environment. Modern web browsers allow you to disable all cookies or only third-party cookies.
Do we disclose any information to outside parties?
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating this digital environment, conducting our business, or providing services to you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property, or safety.
Third party links
The digital environment may contain links to other Internet pages. These third-party sites have separate and independent privacy policies. We therefore have no responsibility or liability for the content and activities of these linked sites. Nonetheless, we seek to protect the integrity of our digital environment and welcome any feedback about these sites.
Online Privacy Policy Only
This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through the digital environment and not to information collected offline.
Your Consent
By using this digital environment, you consent to our privacy policy.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page.
This document was last updated on 10 March 2026.
What are your data protection rights?
Data subjects’ rights may be found in The World Health Organization’s Personal Data Protection Policy
The right to access - You have the right to request copy of your personal data from the WHO.
The right to rectification - You have the right to request correction of any personal data you believe is inaccurate from the WHO.
The right to restrict processing - You have the right to request restriction of processing of your personal data from the WHO, under certain conditions.
The right to object to processing - You have the right to object on processing of your personal data to the WHO, under certain conditions.
The right to erasure - You have the right to request erasure of your personal data from the WHO under certain conditions.
The right to be forgotten - You have the right to request permanent deletion of your personal data, content generated by you and any stored information that could identify you from the WHO.
If you have any questions about privacy policy, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please contact us at collaboratory@who.int.