Please read our terms and conditions carefully
1 Introduction
(1) The DesignOps Network (hereinafter referred to as “DON”) welcomes all ResearchOps, DesignOps and InnovationOps professionals and also those interested in ‘Ops’ (Operations), including students, academics, corporations or engaged shareholders, to become members of the network (hereinafter referred to as “(Paid) Member/Members”).
(2) These “Terms & Conditions - Membership” apply exclusively for the use of the DON website as a paying member. The use of restricted areas of DON’s website is only permitted in case the Paid Member accepts these conditions.
(3) For use of the website as a free community follower, the “Terms & Conditions – Community Follower” applies.
(4) For all contracts and orders regarding the purchase of the any Publications, Books & Reports, “Terms & Conditions - E-Shop” apply. The customer will find these terms via references made directly in the offer.
(5) For all contracts and orders regarding the purchase of tickets for the DesignOps Global Conference (DOGC), the “Terms & Conditions - DesignOps Global Conference” apply. The customer will find these terms via references made directly in the offer.
(6) For all contracts regarding DON Trainer Accreditation, the “Terms & Conditions - Trainer Accreditation” apply. The customer will find these terms through references made directly in the offer.
(7) We may change these terms and conditions at any time without notice by updating this page. If you continue to access or use this website we will consider that you have accepted any updates/changes.
(8) For any questions, you may reach us via email info@designops-network.org or by mail to:
DesignOps Network Office
2 Registration
(1) You will be considered a paying member once your registration form has been completed and applicable fees paid. You can register via our website by filling out the online form and clicking the “Submit” button. By doing so, you will have to agree to these Terms & Conditions – Membership.
(2) Our system will send your log-in details via email once your payment has cleared. You are now an official "paid" member of the DON. If you do not receive your login details, please make sure to check your spam folder in case the message has been marked as spam.
(3) By sending this email to you, we conclude the membership-contract.
(4) We reserve the right to conclude this contract with any potential member which means that you cannot claim membership.
(5) The Paid Member is not permitted to share membership access details to a third person and is responsible for keeping the data confidential and preventing unauthorized use by third parties.
3 Marketing communications
By becoming a Paid Member, you agree to the DesignOps Network storing and processing your contact information in accordance with our Privacy Policy that conforms to GDPR (EU).
The DON follows GDPR regulations concerning all marketing related activities. Newsletters, email correspondence and all other online communication require your agreement to receive.
You can opt-out of our marketing communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at media@designops.network
We will not share your information with any third party, with the exception of our newsletter provider (if you have opted in to receive), MailChimp. We use MailChimp as our marketing automation platform. By subscribing to a newsletter, you acknowledge that the information you provide will be transferred to MailChimp for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy and Terms. Through MailChimp, we also gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry-standard technologies to help us monitor and improve our newsletter's performance.
4 DesignOps Network Membership
There are three types of paid memberships: student members, professional members and corporate members.
Student Members - Students applying for student membership must be enrolled in an academic program, approved by an appropriate accrediting institution and as defined by the Academy’s Commission on Education. DON reserves the right to cancel a membership not matching with the student guidelines. All paid fees will be reimbursed minus a handling fee of £25.
Professional Members - Professional members are practitioners working as a researcher, designer, manager and any associate role on projects within a commercial, public, or non-profit sector.
Corporate Members - Corporate members are organisations that employ professionals engaged in ResearchOps, DesignOps and InnovationOps that are active in education, professional developing, consultancy or in the development of products (hardware or software) and/or services.
5 Price Components and Methods of Payment
(1) Please see our membership page here for a breakdown on our fee structure for students, professionals and organisations. We accept all major credit cards for payment. You also have the option to request payment via invoice and can be paid via bank transfer or Paypal. Note all details concerning this latter payment option are outlined on the invoice.
(2) Memberships are active for a 12 months period starting from the date of registration/payment.
(3) The membership fee must be paid in full before you can access services. After your registration is received, you will be sent a confirmation of payment for the membership fee.
(4) Membership is renewed each year automatically and payment is taken automatically. It is the responsibility of the member to monitor and ensure payment.
(5) Cancellation of membership and payment must be made at least 30 days prior to the annual renewal.
(6) Cancellation of membership can be made within the the first 30 days of membership and all money will be reimbursed except minus a £25 administration fee.
6 Membership Obligations
(1) As a Paid Member you agree not to transmit any illegal or unlawful contents in text or in picture. You are particularly obliged not to publish any contribution
that would constitute a crime or administrative offence,
that infringes copyrights, trademark rights or competition regulations,
that infringes the UK or EU law.
that has offending, racist, discriminating or pornographic content,
that contains advertisements.
(2) A breach of the obligations stated above entitles DON to delete or modify the respective contributions and to block the Paid Member access. The membership can be frozen for an appropriate period of time. DON remains entitled to claim for further damage caused by violation of this duty.
(3) DON has the right to delete contributions of a Paid Member that may contain a statutory violation.
(4) DON has the right to be indemnified by the Paid Member against third party claims due to a statutory violation by the Member. The Paid Member is obligated to support DON in defending the claim of respective demands and bear the costs for an adequate legal defense.
(5) Comments and other contributions that are published have to be factually and respectful to other Members. In case of offences DON is entitled to delete the contributions and block the Paid Member access. When it comes to a severe case DON is entitled to freeze the membership for an appropriate period of time.
(6) In case the membership is frozen the Paid Member cannot enforce a right derived from the membership.
7 Limitation of Liability
(1) To the maximum extent permitted by law, we accept no responsibility for any loss, which may arise from reliance on information contained in this website or other sites, which may be linked to our site from time to time.
(2) The DON assumes no liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, reliability, up-to-dateness and usefulness of the provided content of the respective Paid Members. Please note that statements of fact and opinion are made on the responsibility of the authors alone and do not represent the views of the DON.
(3) Claims for damages are excluded unless otherwise agreed below. This exclusion of liability also applies for legal representatives and vicarious agents of the DON.
(4) The liability for the following matters are not limited or excluded: The liability for assuming a guarantee, liability in case of violation of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations), liability for injury to life, body and health and liability for gross negligence and willful misconduct. The same applies to liability for negligence of the vicarious agent or the legal representative. In the above matters, liability is unlimited. This applies for direct damages as well as for indirect damages.
Transfer of Usage Rights
(1)The copyright remains with the Paid Member. Paid Members grant DON the right to make their contributions permanently accessible to the public. The DON has the right to move or connect discussion topics or contributions to other contents. By posting any contribution the Member transfers a non-exclusive temporally and spatially unlimited usage right to the DON within the scope of their object of their company.
(2) We are not responsible for the content of third-party sites linked to the Site or for Third Party
Content. They are independent of DON, and their content is not endorsed or approved by DON, even where the third party in question is stated to be a 'partner' or ‘sponsor’ of DON.
9 Termination of Membership
(1) Upon registration, you can choose between two options of terminating the membership.
(1.1.) You can choose to become a Paid Member for only one year, by deactivating the “Automatic renewal of membership" option during registration or by disabling the “automatic renewal" in your member dashboard prior to the last day of your DON membership. This means the membership will terminate automatically at the end of the year in case you do not extend the membership explicitly for another.
(1.2.) The other option is an ongoing membership that continues automatically. If you do not deactivate the “Automatic renewal of membership" option during registration or disable the “automatic renewal" in your member dashboard prior to the last day of your DON membership, your membership will continue on, uninterrupted. In case you choose this option, we will send you a reminder email letting you know that your membership will automatically renew unless you take action via your member dashboard.
(2) In case of good cause, in particular in the event of violation of membership obligations stated in 5 of these Terms and Conditions - Membership, the DON is entitled to promptly close access to the Member und terminate the membership without setting a period of notice.
(3) As a result of the termination, the DON is entitled but not obligated to delete the contributions of the Paid Member on the site. Moreover, DON will close the member access to member benefits.
(4) After termination, the member is still able to login and use the website as a free Community Member. In this case, the “Terms & Conditions – Community Membership” will apply.
(5) After expiry of deadlines, as per tax-related and commercial regulations, your personal data will be deleted unless you have expressly consented to its further use.
10 Final Provisions
(1) The language of the contract shall be English.
(2) The laws of the United Kingdom apply exclusively.
(3) This choice of law only applies to consumer only to the extent that the protection granted by the mandatory provisions of the law of the country of the consumer’s usual residence is not deprived.
(4) The sole place of fulfilment for delivery, performance and payment is Manchester, UK.
(5) If any provision in these terms and conditions shall be held to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, then such provision or part of it shall, to the extent that it is illegal, invalid or unenforceable, be deemed not to form part of these terms and conditions and the legality, validity and enforceability of the remainder of these terms and conditions shall not be affected.
(6) Due to the UK's exit from the EU now being complete, it is no longer possible for users based within the UK to raise a complaint on the ODR platform. Unfortunately, UK users with existing complaints will also no longer be able to access the platform. If you have a complaint you wish to raise, you should first contact with DON. Our Email address is info@designops.network.
If your complaint remains unresolved, please contact the appropriate organisation.
For issues regarding a company based within the UK, please contact the Citizens' Advice Consumer Service.
For issues regarding a company based outside of the UK, please contact the Consumer Centre UK. For details of appropriate ADR bodies available, please also contact the Consumer Centre UK.
If there is any issue with these terms and conditions or you have any enquiry please contact info@designops.network
