Cookies Policy

This Cookies Policy explains how the RUN-EU Academia Link Platform ("RUN-EU ALP", "the Platform") uses cookies and similar technologies in your browser when you use the Platform.

Not everything the Platform stores in your browser is technically a cookie. This policy distinguishes between cookies, local storage, session storage and other similar browser technologies, and describes each of them separately below. This policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy.

Cookies are small pieces of data that a website can ask your browser to store and send back on later requests. Local storage and session storage are similar browser storage mechanisms that keep data on your device but are not sent automatically with every request. All of these can be used for purposes such as keeping you signed in, remembering your preferences, or measuring how a platform is used.

For simplicity, this policy uses the term "cookies and similar technologies" to refer to cookies, local storage and session storage collectively, and specifies the exact mechanism used for each item listed below.

The table below lists every cookie and browser storage item currently used by RUN-EU ALP. RUN-EU ALP does not use session storage.

RUN-EU ALP stores the authentication session token (JWT) in your browser's local storage, under the key token. This is not a cookie. It is required to maintain your authenticated session and to authenticate requests you make to the Platform, and it expires automatically after 12 hours. Clearing this local storage item, or your browser's site data, will sign you out.

When you make a choice in the cookie preferences banner/dialog, that choice is stored in your browser's local storage under the key cookie_consent_v1. This is used only to remember your decision (including if you reject analytics), so the banner does not reappear on every visit. It is stored until you change your preference again and is strictly necessary to respect your choice.

RUN-EU ALP uses PostHog for product analytics (e.g. pages visited, features used). PostHog analytics is optional and is only enabled after you give consent through the cookie preferences banner/dialog; it is not loaded or activated beforehand.

The Platform is configured to send analytics data to PostHog's European Union region (eu.i.posthog.com). Once you have consented, PostHog's SDK may set its own identifiers in local storage and/or cookies in your browser to recognize your browser across pages and sessions. Automatic page view tracking, autocapture and session-performance capture are disabled; only the events RUN-EU ALP explicitly sends are recorded.

Strictly necessary: the authentication session (local storage key token) and your cookie/analytics preference (local storage key cookie_consent_v1) are needed to keep you signed in and to remember your consent choice, so the Platform functions correctly.

Preference / functional: the sidebar display state (cookie sidebar_state) only remembers whether the sidebar is expanded or collapsed. It is not required for authentication or for the Platform's core functionality.

Optional analytics: PostHog is only enabled after you consent. You can reject analytics and continue to use all core features of RUN-EU ALP without any restriction.

You can accept or reject analytics through the cookie preferences banner/dialog shown on the Platform, and you can change that decision at any time using the same control. Withdrawing consent stops further analytics collection and does not affect your access to the Platform's core features.

You can also delete cookies and local/session storage at any time through your browser's own settings. Note that clearing strictly necessary data, such as your authentication token, will end your active session and require you to sign in again.

PostHog is the only third-party service that sets identifiers directly in your browser, and only after you consent, as described above.

If you sign in using Microsoft Entra ID, your browser is briefly redirected to Microsoft's own sign-in domains. Microsoft may set its own cookies or similar technologies on those domains, subject to Microsoft's own policies; these are not set or controlled by RUN-EU ALP.

Other services used by RUN-EU ALP, such as Google Gemini, Cloudinary and ORCID, are used server-side to process data on your behalf and do not set cookies or browser storage on the Platform.

Strictly necessary technologies, including authentication and the cookie/analytics preference, are used because they are necessary to provide and protect the functionality of the Platform that you request. The sidebar_state cookie is a functional preference used only to remember the sidebar display state.

PostHog analytics is processed on the basis of your consent — Article 6(1)(a) GDPR, given through the cookie preferences banner/dialog, and only after you opt in.

The authentication token is retained for 12 hours.

Your cookie/analytics preference is retained until you change or clear it.

The sidebar display state cookie is retained for 7 days.

PostHog identifiers, once created following your consent, are retained according to the PostHog SDK's configuration.

For questions about the use of cookies and similar technologies on RUN-EU ALP, please contact alp@run-eu.eu.