SCoRH Terms of Use and Code of Conduct

SPINAL CORD RESEARCH HUB (SCoRH) – TERMS OF USE AND CODE OF CONDUCT

TERMS OF USE

Spinal Cord Research Hub (SCoRH) is an online platform (Platform) and is operated by Spinal Research Institute Limited ACN 162 207 169 or its successors and assignees (we, our or us). It is available via community engagement platform at: www.scorh.org and may be available through other addresses or channels.

In these terms and conditions, Platform refers to our community engagement platform regardless of how you access it. The Platform allows you to connect with other users online, via the general platform and through online groups.

Acceptance

By accessing and/or using our Platform, you; each person, entity or organisation using our Platform (referred to as you or a User)

(i) warrant to us that you have reviewed these terms and conditions, including our Privacy Policy (available on the Platform) (Terms);

(ii) warrant to us that you are over 18 years of age and you have the legal capacity to enter into a legally binding agreement with us;

(iii) agree to use the Platform in accordance with these Terms; and

(iv) warrant to us you intend to use the Platform for your benefit as a researcher, clinician or person with lived experience of spinal cord injury.

These Terms supplement and incorporate our code of conduct (Code of Conduct).

Please read these Terms carefully and cease using the Platform if you do not agree to the Terms. We may, at any time and at our discretion, vary these Terms by publishing the varied terms on our Platform. If we make a material variation to these Terms we will notify you through the Platform before the variation comes into effect. We recommend you check our Platform regularly to ensure you are aware of our current Terms.

Registration and Profiles

(a) You must register on the Platform and create an account (Account) to access the Platform.

(b) It is free to register for an Account on the Platform and to use the Platform.

(d) You must provide basic information when registering for an Account including name, email address, primary organisation, and your user type.

(e) We will review your registration and may approve or deny your Account based on whether you are affiliated with the spinal cord injury field. At our sole discretion, we may refuse to allow any person to register or create an Account.

(f) Once your registration is approved, you will be required to activate your Account. You cannot Access the Platform until your Account is activated. The information you provide will be used to create a profile which you may then curate with details including but not limited to an image of yourself, your Open Researcher and Contributory Identification number (ORCID) and a short biography. (Profile).

(g) Your Profile is personal and you must not transfer it to others, except with our written permission.

(h) You must provide accurate, current and complete information during the registration and activation process and you must update such information to keep it accurate, current and complete.

(i) You are responsible for keeping your Account and Profile details and your password confidential and you will be liable for all activity on your Account, whether or not you authorised such activities or actions.

(j) You will immediately notify us of any unauthorised use of your Account.

Communication on the Platform

(a) We may make available on the Platform a direct messaging service. If the service is available, Users can communicate privately using our direct messaging service.

(b) The Platform provides discussion forums on which registered Users are able to communicate. You must not post on the forum about any events you, or any entity you are acting on behalf of, have a commercial interest in, whether directly or indirectly.

(c) The Platform has the functionality to create groups which Users can then join and communicate within. (Open Group)

(d) We may make available on the Platform a function to allow permission-only groups that are ‘request to join’ (Closed Group) or ‘invite only’ (Private Group). Users will need to request to join a Closed Group and be accepted by the Group Administrator to be able to access and communicate within the group. You agree that any information or ideas shared within a Closed Group or Private Group are considered confidential and must not to be shared outside of that Closed Group or Private Group, except by the person who initially shared that information with the Closed Group or Private Group or with the express permission of the person who initially shared that information with the Closed Group or Private Group.

(e) We ask you to limit your discussions on the forums to topics which are relevant to the Platform.

(f) We reserve the right to remove any posts made on any part of the Platform, which we, in our sole discretion, deem to be inappropriate.

(g) You agree that we will provide you Platform notifications about activity on the Platform and a notification may be sent to your currently active communication channel. You agree to keep your contact information up to date. Where we have made variable settings available you may change your notification or communication preferences and/or details via the Settings feature (or similar) on our Platform. Some notification settings may be locked or unavailable as they are required for the functionality of the Platform.

Licence to use our Platform

We grant you a non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable, worldwide, non-transferable licence to use our Platform in accordance with these Terms. All other uses are prohibited without our prior written consent.

Prohibited conduct

You must not do, or attempt to do, anything that is unlawful; anything prohibited by any laws which apply to our Platform or which apply to you or your use of our Platform; anything which we would consider inappropriate as set out in our Code of Conduct; or anything which might bring us or our Platform into disrepute, including (without limitation):

(a) anything that would constitute a breach of an individual’s privacy (including uploading private or personal information without an individual’s consent) or any other legal rights;

(b) misrepresenting your identity or your work history;

(c) using our Platform in any way to transmit, publish or communicate material in any way that is defamatory, offensive, abusive, indecent, menacing or unwanted;

(d) interfering with any User using our Platform;

(e) using our Platform or any of the content on the Platform for commercial purposes, including any advertising or advertising revenue generation activity on your own website, without obtaining a licence from us;

(f) tampering with or modifying our Platform, knowingly transmitting viruses or other disabling features, or damaging or interfering with our Platform, including (without limitation) using trojan horses, viruses or piracy or programming routines that may damage or interfere with our Platform;

(g) anything that might violate any local, state, national or other law or regulation or any order of a court, including, without limitation, zoning and tax regulations, privacy laws and regulations and intellectual property laws and regulations;

(h) using our Platform to send unsolicited messages;

(i) using our Platform to send bulk unsolicited in-Platform direct messages; or

(j) facilitating or assisting a third party to do any of the above acts.

Exclusion of competitors

You are prohibited from using our Platform, including the information and materials available on it (Content), in any way that competes with our business. If you breach this term, we will hold you responsible for any loss, damage or expense, howsoever arising, whether direct or indirect and/or whether present, unascertained, future or contingent (Liability) we suffer, and hold you accountable for any profits that you may make from non-permitted use.

Information

The Content is not comprehensive and is for general information purposes only. It does not take into account your specific needs, objectives or circumstances, and is not intended as advice including as medical advice. While we use reasonable attempts to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the Content, we make no representation or warranty regarding it, to the extent permitted by law. The Content is subject to change without notice. However, we do not undertake to keep our Platform up-to-date and we are not liable if any Content is inaccurate or out-of-date.

We have no control over User Content, and while we reverse the right to make User Content subject to our approval and to remove any User Content we consider inappropriate, we do not undertake to review any User Content for accuracy, completeness or correctness and, to the extent permitted by law, we make no representation or warranty regarding it.

Intellectual Property rights

Unless otherwise indicated, we own or licence all rights, title and interest (including intellectual property rights) in our Platform and all of the Content. Your use of our Platform and your use of and access to any Content does not grant or transfer to you any rights, title or interest in relation to our Platform or the Content.

You must not, without the prior written consent of ourselves or the owner of the Content (as applicable):

(a) copy or use, in whole or in part, any Content;

(b) reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish, broadcast or circulate any Content to any third party; or

(1) altering or modifying any of the Content;
(2) causing any of the Content to be framed or embedded in another website; or
(3) creating derivative works from the Content.

User Content

You may be permitted to post, upload, publish, submit or transmit relevant information and content, including but not limited to reports, conference materials and research papers (User Content) on our Platform. By making available any User Content on or through our Platform, you grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free licence to use the User Content, with the right to use, view, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, communicate, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, or otherwise exploit such User Content on, through, or by means of our Platform, for the purpose of providing the Platform and any ancillary services to you.

You agree that you are solely responsible for all User Content that you make available on or through our Platform. You represent and warrant that:

(a) you are either the sole and exclusive owner of all User Content or you have all rights, licences, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to us the rights in such User Content as contemplated by these Terms;

(b) the User Content you make available does not contain identifiable information of a patient or research participant including any identifiable health information;

(c) neither the User Content nor the posting, uploading, publication, submission or transmission of the User Content or our use of the User Content on, through or by means of our Platform will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation; and

(d) where you (i) have received any kind of benefit for creating, sharing or promoting any User Content you will clearly disclose that you have received a benefit; (ii) or where you have any affiliation with a third party with a commercial interest in you creating, sharing or promoting any User Content you must clearly disclose your affiliation. To clearly disclose a benefit or affiliation the disclosure should be visible when viewing the User Content.

We do not endorse or approve and are not responsible for any User Content or any opinions expressed in any User Content. We may, at any time at our sole discretion, remove any User Content.

You indemnify and hold us, our subsidiaries and affiliates and our or their directors, officers, employees, partners and agents, harmless on demand against any claims made by any third parties, including other Users, that User Content you have uploaded onto the Platform infringes the rights, including intellectual property rights, of any such third parties.

Using User Content: Your use of our Platform, and your use of and access to any User Content does not grant or transfer to you any rights, title or interest in relation to that User Content. If you wish to share, modify or in any way use any User Content you must seek express and specific permission from the poster of that User Content. It is your sole responsibility to ensure you have received adequate consent from the correct person to use any User Content.

Confidential User Content: If the poster of any User Content clearly marks that User Content as ‘confidential’, other than on the Platform, you must not discuss that User Content or any information or ideas contained in it, unless these are independently developed without reference to the User Content or are already in the public domain. If you choose to mark any content as ‘confidential’ you understand that we are not responsible for and we have no Liability for any breaches of confidentiality, and it is solely your responsibility to assess how best to protect your User Content and to make any claim for any breach of confidentiality at your own cost.

Third party sites: Our Platform may contain links to websites operated by third parties. Unless expressly stated otherwise, we do not control, endorse or approve and are not responsible for the content on those websites. You should make your own investigations with respect to the suitability of those websites.

Discontinuance: We may, at any time and without notice to you, discontinue our Platform, in whole or in part. We may also exclude any person from using our Platform, at any time at our sole discretion. We are not responsible for any Liability you may suffer arising from or in connection with any such discontinuance or exclusion.

Consumer Guarantees

(a) Certain legislation including the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), and similar consumer protection laws and regulations may confer you with rights, warranties, guarantees and remedies relating to our provision of our services which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified (Statutory Rights).

(b) Nothing in these Terms excludes your Statutory Rights as a consumer under the ACL.

Warranties, disclaimers and indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, we make no representations or warranties about our Platform, the Content, Users or User Content including (without limitation) that:

(a) they are complete, accurate, reliable, up-to-date and suitable for any particular purpose;

(b) access will be uninterrupted, error-free and free from viruses;

(d) our Platform will be secure.

You read, use, and act on our Platform and the Content at your own risk. We are not responsible for and are not obligated to control the actions or information (including User Content) of other users or other third parties. You release us and our subsidiaries and affiliates and our or their directors, officers, employees, partners and agents from any claim, complaint, cause of action or controversy and damages, known or unknown relating to, arising out of, or in any way connected with any such claim you have against other users or third parties.

Limitation of liability: Despite anything to the contrary, to the maximum extent permitted by law:

(a) our maximum aggregate Liability arising from or in connection with these Terms (including the services we provide and/or the subject matter of these Terms) will be limited to, and must not exceed the aggregate amount of fees paid by you to us during the three-month period immediately preceding the event that gave rise to the Liability or $100 if no such fees have been paid; and

(b) we will not be liable to you for any loss of profit (including anticipated profit), loss of benefit (including anticipated benefit), loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of opportunity, loss of savings (including anticipated savings), loss of reputation, loss of use and/or loss or corruption of data, whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), indemnity or otherwise.

(c) Despite anything to the contrary, to the maximum extent permitted by law, we will have no Liability, and you release and discharge us from all Liability, arising from or in connection with any:

(1) event or circumstance beyond our reasonable control;
(2) acts or omissions of you or your personnel;
(3) any defect, error, omission, lack of functionality or suitability (or the absence of, or reduction in, any anticipated result, outcome or benefit), inaccessibility of, interruption or outage with respect to the Platform;
(4) use of the Platform and/or Content;
(5) interaction you have with other users whether in person or online;
(6) any injury or loss to any person;
(7) Content which is incorrect, incomplete or out-of-date; or
(8) breach of these Terms or any law.

(d) You agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, these Terms exclude all terms, conditions and warranties implied by statute, in fact or on any other basis, except to the extent such terms, conditions and warranties are fully expressed in these Terms.

(e) This clause will survive the termination or expiry of these Terms.

Indemnity: To the maximum extent permitted by law, you must indemnify us, and hold us harmless, against any Liability suffered by us arising from or in connection with your use of our Platform or any breach of these Terms or any applicable laws by you. This indemnity is a continuing obligation, independent from the other obligations under these Terms, and continues after these Terms end. It is not necessary for us to suffer or incur any Liability before enforcing a right of indemnity under these Terms.

Our Platform is for your personal use only

We’ve designed our Platform for you to use it personally, as a researcher or a clinician or a person with lived experience of spinal cord injury, and not on a commercial basis. You must not use (without express consent otherwise) our Platform, or any of our Content, or any User Content for your commercial purposes, including, for example, to advertise your own business or for any other revenue generation activity.

Unless you submit a request to us and we provide you consent, our Platform is not a suitable place to advertise commercial products, commercial services or any events (including conferences) you are running, sponsoring or otherwise have any commercial interest in, whether directly or indirectly.

Termination

(a) You may cancel your Account and terminate these Terms at any time by sending us an email to the address at the end of these Terms.

(b) We may terminate these Terms for convenience at any time by giving you 30 days’ notice via email to the email address in your Account.

(c) At our sole discretion, we may suspend your Account or terminate these Terms immediately without notice if (i) you are in breach of these Terms, any applicable laws, regulations or third party rights (ii) or we have received complaints about you.

Disputes: In the event of any dispute arising from, or in connection with, these Terms (Dispute), the party claiming there is a Dispute must give written notice to the other party setting out the details of the Dispute and proposing a resolution. Within 7 days after receiving the notice, the parties must meet at least once to attempt to resolve the Dispute or agree on the method of resolving the Dispute by other means, in good faith. All aspects of every such conference, except the fact of the occurrence of the conference, will be privileged. If the parties do not resolve the Dispute or (if the Dispute is not resolved) agree on an alternate method to resolve the Dispute, within 21 days after receipt of the notice, the Dispute may be referred by either party (by notice in writing to the other party) to litigation.

Collection Notice

(a) We collect personal information about you in order to enable you to access and use the Platform, to contact and communicate with you, to respond to your enquiries and for other purposes set out in our Privacy Policy.

(b) We may disclose that information to third party service providers who help us deliver our services (including information technology service providers, data storage, web-hosting and server providers, professional advisors, third party payment processors and our business partners) or as required by law. If you do not provide this information we may not be able to provide you with access to our Platform. In certain circumstances, we may disclose your personal information to third parties located, or who store data, outside Australia.

(c) Our Privacy Policy contains further information about: (i) how we store and use your personal information; (ii) how you can access and seek correction of your personal information; (iii) how you can make a privacy-related complaint; and (iv) our complaint handling process.

(d) By providing personal information to us, you consent to us collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Assignment

You may not assign, transfer or delegate these Terms and your rights and obligations under the Terms without our prior written consent. We may without restriction assign, transfer or delegate these Terms and any rights and obligations under these Terms, at our sole discretion, with 30 days prior notice. Your right to terminate these Terms, in accordance with these Terms, remains unaffected.

Severance

If a provision of these Terms is held to be void, invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision must be read down as narrowly as necessary to allow it to be valid or enforceable. If it is not possible to read down a provision (in whole or in part), that provision (or that part of that provision) is severed from these Terms without affecting the validity or enforceability of the remainder of that provision or the other provisions in these Terms.

Jurisdiction

Your use of our Platform and these Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria. You irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts operating in Victoria and any courts entitled to hear appeals from those courts and waive any right to object to proceedings being brought in those courts.

Our Platform may be accessed throughout Australia and overseas. We make no representation that our Platform complies with the laws (including intellectual property laws) of any country outside Australia. If you access our Platform from outside Australia, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for complying with the laws of the jurisdiction where you access our Platform.

For any questions and notices, please contact us at:

Spinal Research Institute Limited ACN 162 207 169

Email: scorh@thesri.org

Last update: 8 January 2025

CODE OF CONDUCT

Like the research community as whole, the SCoRH community is comprised of spinal cord injury (SCI) researchers, healthcare professionals and people with lived experience from all over the world (Members), working on many different aspects of research. SCoRH Members also have a mix of experience, from early career researchers to well-established members of the SCI research community.

Community diversity brings with it much strength, but it can also lead to miscommunication and frustration. To that end, we have a few ground rules that we require users to adhere to.

SCoRH strives to provide the SCI research community with a friendly and professional atmosphere, that promotes genuine support for our Members, and where open, honest exchange is encouraged. SCoRH aims to facilitate a cultural shift to a more connected, collaborative SCI research community.

This Code of Conduct outlines our expectations for all those who participate in the SCoRH community, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior.

We invite all those who join SCoRH to create positive experiences for all Members.

If you believe someone is violating this Code of Conduct, we ask that you report it by email to the SCoRH Administrator at scorh@thesri.org. For more details please see our Reporting Guidelines in section 3 of this Code of Conduct.

Expected Behaviour

The following behaviours are expected and requested of all SCoRH Members:

Be welcoming. We want SCoRH to be a platform that welcomes and supports all members of the spinal cord injury research community.
Be considerate and patient. Remember that SCoRH is a global community, so you might not be communicating in someone else’s primary language. Be mindful of differences in culture and language that can add a different meaning to the words or expressions you use or read. Make the effort to understand another’s meaning or point of view.
Be respectful. Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It is important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one.
Be professional. SCoRH is a community of professionals, and we conduct ourselves professionally. Your input should be appropriate and relevant to the SCoRH community. Your input should not knowingly be misleading, inaccurate or false.
Be a leader. We encourage researchers with more experience and those in more senior positions to demonstrate leadership in the SCoRH community. This does not mean authority, superiority or control. Strong leaders provide guidance, coaching and advice. They are active members of the community, generate enthusiasm, and help shape its culture.
Be transparent. If you share or endorse information in exchange for financial payment, free products or services, or other personal benefit, you must clearly state what this personal benefit is.
Be careful with the words you choose. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior are not acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Violent threats or language directed against another person
- Discriminatory jokes, insults or language
- Posting sexually explicit or violent material
- Posting (or threatening to post) other people personal information
- Unwelcome sexual attention
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior
- Repeated harassment of others
When we disagree, try to understand why. Disagreements happen all the time, however it is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we’re different. The strength of SCoRH comes from its varied community, people from a wide range of backgrounds. Different people have different perspectives on issues.
Respect closed group and private group confidentiality. Keep all conversations within a closed group or private group strictly within that closed group or private group. Closed groups and private groups are intended for private discussions and this should be respected.
Respect the confidentiality of other members’ content. If any SCoRH Member marks any user content as ‘confidential’, do not discuss this user content outside of the Platform.

Consequences of Unacceptable Behaviour

Unacceptable behavior from any SCoRH Member will not be tolerated. Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately. Content that has been identified as objectionable or inappropriate will be subject to deletion by the SCoRH Administrator.

If a SCoRH Member engages in unacceptable behavior, we may take any action deemed appropriate, up to and including a temporary ban or permanent exclusion from SCoRH.

These decisions are made by the Spinal Research Institute (SRI) at its sole discretion.

Reporting Guidelines

If you believe someone is violating this Code of Conduct we ask that you report it to the SCoRH Administrator by emailing scorh@thesri.org (you can also click ‘Contact Us’ in your user menu at top right). All reports will be kept confidential.

In your report please include:

Your contact information, so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up
Names of the individuals involved
Where and where the incident occurred; please be as specific as possible
Your account of what occurred – if you are able to get a screen shot please do so and send with your email
Any other information you believe we should have

You also have the option to report specific content by clicking on the three dots next to the content and then clicking ‘Report this content’.

What happens after you make a report

You will receive an email from the SCoRH Administrator to acknowledge receipt within 2 business days.

The SCoRH Administrator will review the incident to determine what happened and whether this event constitutes a Code of Conduct violation.

Once the SCoRH Administrator has a complete account of the events they will make a decision as to how to respond. Responses may include:

Nothing (if it is determined that no violation occurred).
A private reprimand from the SCoRH Administrator to the individual(s) involved.
A public reprimand.
An imposed break from SCoRH.
A permanent or temporary ban from SCoRH.
A request for a public or private apology.

The SCoRH Administrator will respond within one week to the person who filed the report with either a resolution or an explanation of why the situation is not yet resolved.

Once the final action is determined, the SCoRH Administrator will contact the person who filed the report to let them know what action (if any) will be taken. The SCoRH Administrator will take into account feedback from the reporter on the appropriateness of our response, but cannot guarantee it will be acted upon.

Finally, the SCoRH Administrator will make a report on the situation to SRI management.

Any of the parties directly involved or affected can request reconsideration of the ScoRH Administrator’s decision. To make such a request, contact the SRI at info@thesri.org with your request and motivation and the SRI’s management will review the case.

License and Attribution

This Code of Conduct is directly adapted from the Django Code of Conduct, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Portions of text are derived from the Stumptown Syndicate Code of Conduct distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.

Revision 1.1 adopted by the SCoRH Advisory Group on 21 August 2018.

Revision 1.2 updated 3 December 2024.

Revision 1.3 updated 8 January 2025.