Terms of Use

About this document

Citizen Centric Terms of Use

Effective Date: 15 August 2026

Last Updated: 15 August 2026

Version: 1.0

Citizen Centric is a research participation platform operated by Politis Ltd (company number 13661766), registered office The Old Courthouse, Orsett Road, Grays, Essex, England, RM17 5DD, ICO reference ZB738312. These Terms govern use of the participant-facing and public-facing Citizen Centric services. Organisation customers are governed separately by the Organisation SaaS Terms Agreement and related schedules.

1. Who these Terms apply to

These Terms apply to participants, public website visitors and other individual users of Citizen Centric. Researchers and organisation administrators using Citizen Centric on behalf of a subscribing organisation are also subject to their organisation’s SaaS agreement and policies.

2. Eligibility and invitations

Participation in a study is by invitation or another approved enrolment method. The participant mobile application currently uses an invitation token/code rather than email/password sign-in. Users must not share or misuse invitations or attempt to access another participant’s study or account.

3. Accounts and security

Users must keep invitations, session credentials and device access secure and must not attempt to bypass authentication, authorisation or study-scoping controls. Suspected unauthorised access should be reported to info@politisconsulting.co.uk.

4. Acceptable use

Users must comply with the Citizen Centric Acceptable Use Policy. In particular, users must not attempt unauthorised access, introduce malicious code, interfere with security controls, impersonate others, misuse study invitations or use the service unlawfully.

5. Participant material

Participants may submit text, photographs, documents, audio or other content where a study enables those functions. Participants should only submit material they are entitled to provide. Politis Ltd and the relevant research organisation may process participant material only as needed to provide the platform and conduct the relevant study, subject to the applicable study documents, privacy information and data-processing arrangements.

Submitting material does not transfer ownership of a participant’s intellectual property to Politis Ltd. Any licence needed to host, transmit, process, secure, back up or return the material is limited to providing the service and supporting the relevant research purposes.

6. Study participation and withdrawal

Participation in research is voluntary. The applicable Participant Information Sheet and study privacy information explain the study, lawful bases, withdrawal arrangements, retention and any consequences of withdrawal. Withdrawing from a study is separate from requesting account/data deletion, and material already anonymised or otherwise lawfully retained may not be capable of removal.

7. AI-assisted features

Citizen Centric may use AI-assisted processing only where the relevant feature is actually enabled and appropriately governed. Participant material is not used to train public or shared foundation models. Internal researcher AI outputs, including suggested codes, Evidence Confidence, researcher notes, themes or contradiction analysis, are not participant-facing features.

The participant mobile app does not send participant material directly to AI provider endpoints; authorised processing is mediated through server-side services.

8. Upload security and device storage

Uploads may be validated or scanned for security. The mobile app may securely store session information, drafts and queued submissions locally to provide offline/resilience features. The app should preserve unsent participant material until it is sent successfully or explicitly removed, subject to study withdrawal and security rules.

9. Availability and changes

Citizen Centric may be unavailable from time to time for maintenance, updates, security work or events outside reasonable control. Planned maintenance will be notified where reasonably practicable. Politis Ltd may update these Terms and will provide appropriate notice of material changes.

10. Suspension and termination

Politis Ltd may restrict or suspend access where reasonably necessary for security, legal compliance, misuse or material breach. Enforcement should be proportionate and should not be used to obstruct lawful research withdrawal or data-protection rights.

11. Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation. Any further consumer-facing limitation must be fair and transparent under applicable law.

12. Complaints and contact

Questions or complaints about Citizen Centric may be sent to info@politisconsulting.co.uk or by post to The Old Courthouse, Orsett Road, Grays, Essex, England, RM17 5DD. Study-specific concerns should also be directed to the study/research contacts identified in the Participant Information Sheet.

13. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Nothing in this clause removes any mandatory consumer rights or rights to bring proceedings in another court where applicable law requires that right.