Last updated: 17 July 2026
Who we are
Lost & Found In Translation, also known as the L&FIT Network, is a research network exploring the premises, planning, methodologies and ethics of qualitative, interview-based and cross-language research.
We are particularly interested in how cross-language research can be conducted, shared and published in ethical and non-extractive ways.
This website is operated for the L&FIT Network.
Our website address is:
The network’s current academic lead and privacy contact is:
Dr Ruth Abou Rached
Academic Lead, Lost & Found In Translation ECR Network
Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
The University of Manchester
Samuel Alexander Building
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
United Kingdom
For privacy, data-protection and general enquiries, contact:
Information we collect
The information we collect depends on how you use the website.
Website visitors
When you visit the website, our website, hosting and security systems may process limited technical information. This may include your IP address, browser and device information, the date and time of your visit, pages and resources requested, security logs, access logs, error logs and information stored in essential cookies.
We use this information to operate, maintain and protect the website, diagnose technical problems and prevent misuse.
Registered members
When you create a member account, we may collect your username, first and last name, private account email address, password, current role or job title, institution or affiliation, country, optional website address, optional social or professional profile link and optional contact email address.
We may also store your public-directory consent, profile-field visibility choices, network email subscription preference, account status, website role and information relating to registration, verification and account administration.
Passwords are stored in a protected, hashed form and are not available to us as readable text.
Members may later choose to add a profile photograph, biography, research interests, posts, events, opportunities, comments and other information voluntarily added to their profile or submissions.
Contact and feedback
If you contact us, we may collect your name, email address, the content of your message, information you voluntarily include and technical information needed to protect the form from spam or misuse.
Comments and submissions
If comments are enabled and you leave a comment, we may collect the information entered in the comment form, your IP address, browser information, the date and time of the comment and moderation or approval information.
If you submit a post, event, opportunity or other contribution, we may process the submitted content, your account information and correspondence relating to its review.
Email subscriptions
If you subscribe to network updates, we may process your name, email address, subscription status, subscription confirmation, unsubscribe requests, delivery information and bounced-message information.
Email engagement information may also be processed if this feature is enabled in the future.
How we use your information
We use personal information to create and administer member accounts, verify email addresses, provide login and password-reset facilities and send essential account and security messages.
We also use personal information to operate the members directory, apply members’ privacy and visibility preferences, manage newsletter subscriptions and send network updates to people who have chosen to receive them.
Information may also be used to respond to questions, feedback and complaints, review and moderate posts or comments, organise and promote relevant network activities, maintain and improve the website, prevent spam or unauthorised access, maintain appropriate records and comply with legal obligations.
Our lawful bases
Under UK data-protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information.
Legitimate interests
We rely on our legitimate interests when processing information necessary to operate and administer the L&FIT Network, provide and secure member accounts, maintain the website, respond to enquiries, moderate content, prevent misuse and communicate essential information about accounts and network services.
Our legitimate interest is the effective, secure and responsible operation of the research network and its website.
We consider whether these interests could be achieved in a less intrusive way and balance them against the rights and reasonable expectations of the people concerned.
Consent
We rely on consent when publishing a member’s profile in the public members directory, displaying optional contact information according to the member’s choices and sending optional network news and email updates.
Providing consent is optional. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
Legal obligations
We may process or retain information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation, respond to a lawful request or establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.
Private account emails and contact emails
The email address used to register an account is treated as a private account email.
We use this address for email verification, login and account administration, password resets, security notifications and essential messages about the account or website service.
These essential messages are not marketing emails. They will not be affected if a member unsubscribes from optional network updates.
Members may separately provide an optional contact email address for their profile.
Members can choose whether their contact email is public, visible only to approved network members or private.
The private account email will not be displayed as the member’s public contact address.
Public members directory
Appearing in the public members directory is optional.
A member’s profile will not appear in the directory unless the member actively selects the directory-consent option.
Where consent has been given, the directory may show the member’s first and last name, current role or job title, institution or affiliation, website link and social or professional profile link.
Other profile information may be shown according to the member’s privacy settings.
Members can choose whether their website, social or professional link and contact email are public, visible only to approved network members or private.
Public information may be viewed by anyone visiting the website, including people who are not registered members. Public information may also be indexed, archived or cached by search engines and other external services.
Information marked as visible to approved network members will only be available to logged-in users whose accounts have been approved.
Private information will only be available to the member and authorised website administrators.
Members may withdraw directory consent through their profile settings. Their profile will then be removed from the directory without requiring administrator approval.
Withdrawing directory consent does not delete the member’s website account.
Although we will remove information from our own website, we may not be able to immediately remove copies that have already been indexed or cached by external search engines.
Network email updates
Members may separately choose to receive occasional L&FIT Network email updates.
These emails may include network news, upcoming events, recent posts and publications, research opportunities, PhD opportunities, employment opportunities, funding opportunities, calls for contributions and other relevant network activities.
Subscription is optional and is separate from account registration and public-directory consent.
The subscription option is not selected by default.
Subscribers may be asked to confirm their subscription through a confirmation email before being added to the mailing list.
Subscribers can withdraw their consent at any time by selecting the unsubscribe link included in an email, changing their account preferences or contacting [email protected].
Unsubscribing from network updates will not stop essential account, verification, password-reset or security emails.
MailPoet
We use MailPoet to manage network-update subscriptions and email delivery.
MailPoet may process subscriber names, email addresses, IP addresses, subscription status, confirmation status, unsubscribe activity, emails sent, delivery events and bounced messages.
MailPoet may use additional service providers to operate its sending service. Some processing may take place outside the United Kingdom.
We will use MailPoet to send network updates only to people who have chosen to subscribe and completed any required confirmation process.
MailPoet may also be used to deliver essential website emails such as account-verification and password-reset messages. These messages are necessary for administering the member’s account and are separate from optional network updates.
Posts, events and member submissions
Members may be able to submit posts, event announcements, opportunities and other material relevant to the network.
Submissions may be reviewed by authorised editors, moderators or administrators before publication.
Published content may show the author’s name and other information that the author has chosen to make public.
Members must not include another person’s private or confidential information in a submission unless they have permission to do so.
We may edit, reject, remove or retain a record of submitted content where reasonably necessary for moderation, website administration, security or dispute handling.
Comments
If comments are enabled, we use comment information to publish and manage discussions, moderate inappropriate content, identify spam, investigate abuse and protect the website.
Approved comments may be visible publicly together with the commenter’s chosen display name.
Comments and associated information may remain available while the relevant post or discussion remains published.
Requests to remove comments will be considered in light of the circumstances and any need to preserve the integrity of a discussion or comply with legal obligations.
Media uploads
Members who upload images should remove embedded location information, such as EXIF GPS data, unless they deliberately intend to make that information available.
Visitors may be able to download publicly available images and extract metadata contained in those files.
Cookies
The website uses cookies and similar technologies where necessary to maintain login sessions, verify that a browser accepts cookies, remember account and display preferences, support website and form security, prevent fraud or misuse and provide essential WordPress and Ultimate Member functions.
If a member selects a “Remember Me” option, their login may remain active for longer than an ordinary browser session.
If comment convenience features are enabled, visitors may be offered the option to save their name, email address and website in cookies for future comments.
We do not currently use optional advertising cookies or behavioural-tracking cookies.
We do not currently use an optional visitor-analytics service.
If non-essential analytics, advertising or other tracking technologies are introduced, we will update this policy and request consent where required.
Embedded content and external links
Posts may contain links to or embedded content from other websites. This may include videos, images, social-media posts, maps, event pages and academic or professional resources.
Embedded content may behave in the same way as if the visitor had accessed the external website directly.
The external provider may collect technical information, use cookies or monitor interactions with its content.
External websites have their own privacy practices. Visitors should review the privacy information provided by those services.
Where practical, we will use ordinary links or privacy-enhancing embed settings instead of automatically loading third-party content.
Who can access your information
Personal information may be accessed by authorised people who need it to perform their responsibilities.
This may include website administrators, editors, network moderators, the network’s academic lead and technical personnel responsible for maintaining or securing the website.
Access will be limited according to each person’s role and responsibilities.
Service providers
We use service providers to operate the website and network services.
Hostinger provides website hosting and domain email services.
Cloudflare provides DNS and may provide website security and related network services.
MailPoet provides subscriber management and email delivery.
These providers may process limited personal information on our behalf where necessary to provide their services.
Other backup, security, anti-spam or technical providers may be added where necessary. We will review and update this policy when our service providers change.
We do not sell personal information.
We may disclose information where required by law or where reasonably necessary to protect the rights, safety or security of the network, its members or other people.
International data transfers
Some of our service providers may process or make personal information accessible outside the United Kingdom.
Where an international transfer is subject to UK data-protection law, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate legal mechanism or safeguard is in place.
You may contact us for more information about the service providers we use and the safeguards relevant to your information.
How long we keep information
We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
The factors we consider include whether a member account remains active, whether information remains necessary to provide a requested service, whether consent remains valid, whether a post or discussion remains published, whether an enquiry or complaint has been resolved, website security requirements, backup requirements and any legal or record-keeping obligations.
Member-account information is generally retained while the account remains active.
Directory information is removed from the live members directory when directory consent is withdrawn.
Newsletter information is retained until the person unsubscribes. We may retain a limited suppression record to prevent someone who has unsubscribed from being added again accidentally.
Contact messages are retained only while needed to respond to or manage the matter.
Comments and published contributions may remain available while the associated content remains published.
Security logs and access logs are retained for limited operational periods.
Backups are retained according to the website’s backup and recovery schedule. Information may remain temporarily in backups after it has been removed from the live website.
MailPoet’s sending-service email logs are retained according to MailPoet’s own retention schedule.
Account and directory changes
Members can update much of their profile information and privacy preferences through their account.
Members can update their professional and profile information, change the visibility of optional contact fields, withdraw public-directory consent, unsubscribe from network updates and request correction or deletion of their account information.
Removing a profile from the public directory is different from deleting the member’s account.
Deleting an account may not automatically remove previously published posts, approved comments, information that must be retained for security or legal reasons or information temporarily retained in backups.
Where appropriate, we will consider anonymising an author’s name on retained content.
Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to ask for access to your personal information, ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information, request deletion, request restriction of processing, object to certain uses of your information, receive certain information in a portable format, withdraw consent and complain about how your information has been handled.
These rights are not absolute and may depend on the lawful basis and circumstances of the processing.
Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.
To exercise your rights, contact:
We may need to request information to confirm your identity before responding.
Your right to object
You have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests.
You also have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
To object, contact [email protected] or use the unsubscribe link included in any network-update email.
Complaints
Please contact us first if you have concerns about how your personal information has been used.
Email:
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the United Kingdom’s data-protection regulator.
Information about making a complaint is available at:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information.
These measures may include encrypted website connections, role-based access controls, email verification, password protection, software and plugin updates, backups, security logging and restrictions on administrative access.
No website or internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Members should use a strong, unique password and contact us if they believe their account has been compromised.
Automated decision-making
We do not currently use personal information to make decisions about people solely through automated processing or profiling.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when our website, network activities, service providers or legal obligations change.
The latest version will be published on this page with a revised “Last updated” date.
Where a significant change affects registered members, we may also provide a notice through the website or by email.