Terms of Use

1. INTRODUCTION AND ACCEPTANCE These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Research Intelligence Service (“RIS”) and the RIS online platform (the “Platform”) operated by the Center for Contemporary & Emerging Technologies (“CCET”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). By creating an account, accepting these Terms, or otherwise accessing or using the Platform, you (“you”, the “User”) agree to be bound by these Terms. You accept these Terms electronically through the Platform. Under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act No. 4 of 2021, an agreement is not deprived of legal effect merely because it is concluded by electronic means, and your electronic acceptance constitutes a valid and binding agreement. These Terms should be read together with the following documents, which together form the entire agreement between you and CCET in relation to the RIS: (a) the Research Advisory Ethics Charter; (b) the RIS Privacy Policy; and (c) the RIS Refund and Cancellation Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Platform. 2. DEFINITIONS ● “Platform” means the RIS online system, comprising the public website, user dashboard, SOP Bank, payment facilities, and administrative backend. ● “SOP Product” means a Statement of the Problem entry in the SOP Bank, made available at one or more access levels (SOP Preview, and Full SOP). ● “Content” means all SOP products, text, materials, and other content made available through the Platform. ● “Account” means the User’s registered account on the Platform. ● “Individual Purchase” means a one-off payment unlocking a specified SOP (Brief description or Full scope). ● “Subscription” means a recurring paid plan granting access to a defined quota of SOP products for a defined period or credits. Terms defined in the Research Advisory Ethics Charter, the Privacy Policy, or the Refund and Cancellation Policy have the same meaning in these Terms unless the context requires otherwise. 3. ELIGIBILITY AND ACCOUNTS ● You must be at least 18 years old to register for and use the RIS. The Platform is intended for postgraduate and other adult researchers. ● You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when registering, and keep it up to date. We may suspend or refuse accounts containing false or misleading information. ● You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity carried out through your Account. You must not share your credentials or allow any other person to use your Account. ● You must notify us promptly at ccetzm@gmail.com if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your Account. ● Where sign-in through a third-party provider (such as Google) is offered, your use of that sign-in is also subject to that provider’s terms. 4. THE SERVICE The RIS provides access to technology-aligned Statement of the Problem products as intellectual scaffolds to support your own research. Content is made available at two access levels: a free SOP Preview, a paid full SOP and subscription (Description, and Full Scope). In its current release the RIS is a self-service platform. We may add, modify, suspend, or discontinue features of the Platform from time to time, acting reasonably. 5. FEES, PAYMENT, AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ● Prices are displayed on the Platform before you pay, and you will not be charged more than the displayed price. Applicable taxes are dealt with in accordance with law. ● Payments are processed by our third-party payment provider(s), which supports mobile money and card payments. We do not store your card details. ● Access to purchased or subscribed Content is activated upon confirmation of your payment. Subscriptions may renew automatically on the terms disclosed at sign-up; you may cancel or turn off automatic renewal as described in the Refund and Cancellation Policy. ● Refunds and cancellations are governed by the RIS Refund and Cancellation Policy, which forms part of these Terms and does not exclude your rights under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010. 6. LICENCE TO USE CONTENT Subject to your compliance with these Terms and payment of any applicable fees, CCET grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, and revocable licence to access and use the Content you have unlocked, solely for your own personal academic development. You must not: ● Reproduce, resell, redistribute, publish, share, or commercially exploit any Content; ● Share your Account or provide any other person with access to Content; ● Scrape, bulk-download, or systematically extract Content, or circumvent access controls, watermarking, or security measures; ● Remove or alter any copyright, watermark, or proprietary notice; or ● Use Content in any way that breaches the Research Advisory Ethics Charter. 7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ● CCET owns, or is licensed to use, all intellectual property rights in the Platform, the SOP Bank, and all Content, including SOP products and downloadable documents. Except for the licence in Section 6, nothing in these Terms transfers any such rights to you. ● You own your own research outputs. CCET claims no ownership, authorship, co-authorship, or academic credit over your work, consistent with the Research Advisory Ethics Charter. ● “CCET”, “RIS”, and related names and logos are marks of CCET and may not be used without our prior written consent. ● If you send us feedback or suggestions, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use them to improve the RIS, without obligation to you. 8. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Your use of the RIS is governed by the Research Advisory Ethics Charter, which forms part of these Terms. SOP products are intellectual scaffolds intended to guide your own research; they are not finished academic work and must not be submitted, in whole or in part, as your own final academic work. You are solely responsible for complying with the academic integrity policies of your institution. CCET does not write, complete, or draft any part of your thesis, dissertation, assignment, or academic submission. 9. ACCEPTABLE USE You agree not to, and not to attempt to: ● Use the Platform for any unlawful, fraudulent, or harmful purpose, or in breach of any applicable law; ● Use the RIS to facilitate academic misconduct, contract cheating, or the circumvention of any institution’s integrity rules; ● Share credentials, resell access, or use the Platform on behalf of undisclosed third parties; ● Scrape, harvest, or bulk-extract data or Content, or use bots or automated means except as we expressly permit; ● Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive the source code of the Platform, or bypass its security or access controls; ● Upload or transmit any malware, or interfere with the operation, integrity, or security of the Platform; ● Harass, abuse, threaten, or defame any person, including CCET staff; or ● Misrepresent your identity, institutional affiliation, or intended use of the RIS. 10. PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION We process your personal data in accordance with the RIS Privacy Policy and the Data Protection Act No. 3 of 2021. The Privacy Policy forms part of these Terms and explains what personal data we collect, how we use and protect it, and the rights available to you. 11. THIRD-PARTY SERVICES The Platform relies on third-party services, including a payment provider, email and SMS providers, and hosting infrastructure, and may contain links to third-party sites. We are not responsible for the content, policies, or practices of third parties, and your use of their services may be subject to their own terms. Your dealings with a third-party payment provider are between you and that provider, subject to their terms. 12. AVAILABILITY AND SUPPORT We aim to keep the Platform available and to deliver Content reliably, but the Platform is provided on an “as available” basis and access may be interrupted for maintenance, updates, or reasons beyond our control. We provide support through the channels published on the Platform and at ccetzm@gmail.com. 13. DISCLAIMERS The RIS provides research guidance in the form of intellectual scaffolds. To the fullest extent permitted by law, and subject to Section 14 and your statutory rights, the Platform and the Content are provided without warranties that they will meet a particular academic requirement, produce any particular grade, examination, or admission outcome, or be uninterrupted or error-free. SOP products are starting points for your own scholarship and are not a substitute for your own research, analysis, and judgement. 14. LIABILITY AND YOUR STATUTORY RIGHTS To the fullest extent permitted by law, CCET shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential loss, or for loss of profits, data, or academic or reputational outcomes, arising out of or in connection with your use of the RIS. Where CCET is found liable, its total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall not exceed the amount you paid to CCET for the RIS in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits CCET’s liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including any right or remedy you have under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010, liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or liability for fraud. Consistent with that Act, nothing in these Terms purports to disclaim any liability or deny any right that you have under that Act or any other written law; where these Terms and that Act differ, the Act prevails. 15. INDEMNITY You agree to indemnify and hold CCET harmless from reasonable losses, claims, and costs arising from your breach of these Terms or the Ethics Charter, your misuse of the Platform or Content, your infringement of any third party’s rights, or your breach of your institution’s academic integrity policies. This does not apply to the extent any loss arises from CCET’s own breach or negligence. 16. SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION ● You may stop using the RIS and close your Account at any time, as described in the Privacy Policy and the Refund and Cancellation Policy. ● We may suspend or terminate your access, in whole or in part, where you materially breach these Terms or the Ethics Charter, where there is non-payment, fraud, or an unwarranted chargeback, or where required by law. ● On termination, the licence in Section 6 ends and you must stop using the Content. Sections concerning intellectual property, academic integrity, liability, indemnity, and governing law survive termination. ● Any refund on termination is determined in accordance with the Refund and Cancellation Policy and the Ethics Charter, without affecting any remedy required by law. 17. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS We may amend these Terms to reflect changes in the Platform, our practices, or the law. Where changes are material, we will notify registered Users, by email or through the Platform, at least thirty (30) days before they take effect, and, where appropriate, require you to accept the revised Terms before continued use. The current version, with its version number and effective date, is published on the Platform. Your continued use of the RIS after the revised Terms take effect constitutes acceptance. 18. GOVERNING LAW AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Zambia. If a dispute arises, please contact us first at ccetzm@gmail.com so that we can try to resolve it in good faith. Where a consumer dispute cannot be resolved, you may refer it to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and, where applicable, the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal established under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act No. 24 of 2010. Subject to the foregoing, the courts of Zambia shall have jurisdiction. 19. GENERAL ● Entire agreement and precedence: These Terms, together with the Ethics Charter, the Privacy Policy, and the Refund and Cancellation Policy, form the entire agreement between you and CCET regarding the RIS. Where there is a conflict, the document most specific to the subject matter prevails (the Ethics Charter on academic integrity, the Privacy Policy on personal data, and the Refund and Cancellation Policy on refunds and cancellations); otherwise, these Terms prevail. ● Severability: If any provision is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force. ● No waiver: A failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it. ● Assignment: You may not assign your rights under these Terms without our consent; we may assign ours to a successor or affiliate on notice to you. ● No third-party rights: These Terms do not create rights enforceable by any person who is not a party to them. ● Force majeure: We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control. ● Notices and electronic communications: We may give notices through the Platform or by email, and you consent to receiving communications from us electronically. 20. HOW TO CONTACT US Contact Center for Contemporary & Emerging Technologies (CCET), Plot 25667, Musioatunya Road, Woodlands Ext, Lusaka, Zambia. Email: ccetzm@gmail.com. Telephone: +260 979 298 145 | 076 924-022. www.risscholar.com. By creating an account or accepting these Terms through the Platform, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use, the Research Advisory Ethics Charter, the RIS Privacy Policy, and the RIS Refund and Cancellation Policy. The Platform records your acceptance, including your identity, the date and time, and the version accepted, as evidence of this agreement.