Privacy Policy.

This policy is drafted for a UK-based strategic analysis, research, media and advisory website with international visitors. It should be reviewed against Meridian's final operating entity, contracts and chosen service providers before full public launch.

Who We Are

Meridian Strategic Advisory publishes analysis, commentary, research, podcast material and advisory information relating to international relations, geopolitics, security, political risk and related subjects.

Details still to be confirmed before final launch: the legal entity or company name, registered address and company number, if applicable.

For privacy enquiries, contact enquiries@meridianstrategicadvisory.com.

Information We Collect

Meridian may collect personal information that you choose to provide, including your name, email address, organisation or company, enquiry type, topic, message content, newsletter preferences and communications with Meridian.

The website may also process technical information such as IP address, browser or device information, pages visited, approximate location derived from technical data, security logs and cookie or local-storage preferences.

The current website has endpoint-ready contact and newsletter forms. If no form or newsletter endpoint is configured, the public forms show a preview message and do not send the submission.

How We Use Information

Meridian uses personal information to respond to enquiries, assess potential advisory or research work, manage professional correspondence, operate the website, protect the site from spam or misuse, maintain records, send requested newsletters or updates and improve published material and services.

Contact-form users are not added to the marketing mailing list unless they separately choose to receive Meridian email updates.

Lawful Bases

Depending on the context, Meridian may rely on consent, legitimate interests, contractual necessity or legal obligations under UK data-protection law.

Newsletter and marketing email consent is collected through an unticked checkbox. You can withdraw that consent or unsubscribe at any time.

Meridian may rely on legitimate interests to respond to professional enquiries, maintain appropriate business records, secure the website and understand basic website performance, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.

Newsletter and Email Updates

Newsletter signup is for Meridian publications, analysis, podcast/news updates and relevant organisational communications. Any active provider should support exportable subscriber lists, consent records and unsubscribe links in every marketing email.

Meridian should not send marketing email to people who only submit a contact enquiry unless they separately consent.

Cookies and Analytics

The website uses local storage to remember cookie choices. Optional analytics is only loaded if analytics is configured and the visitor accepts analytics cookies. At the time of this build, Plausible analytics is the supported optional analytics integration and is only injected when the relevant environment variables are configured. The final analytics provider should be confirmed before launch.

See the Cookie Policy for details and controls.

Service Providers and Processors

Meridian may use service providers for website hosting, repository and content management, form handling, newsletter delivery, analytics, security, email, file storage and professional administration. These providers may process personal information only as needed to provide their services.

Known website infrastructure for this build includes GitHub, Pages CMS and Cloudflare Pages. Final form, newsletter and analytics providers should be added to this policy when chosen.

International Transfers

Because Meridian operates online and may use international service providers, personal information may be processed outside the UK. Where required, Meridian should rely on appropriate safeguards such as adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses or equivalent protections.

Retention

Meridian should keep personal information only for as long as needed for the purpose collected, including responding to enquiries, managing subscriptions, maintaining professional records, meeting legal obligations and resolving disputes.

Newsletter records should be retained until you unsubscribe or the mailing list is retired, subject to suppression records needed to respect unsubscribe requests. Enquiry records should be reviewed periodically and deleted when no longer needed.

Security

Meridian should use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, including access controls, secure accounts, trusted processors and avoiding secret keys in browser code or public repositories.

Your Rights

Under UK data-protection law, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your personal information, request portability, withdraw consent and complain to a supervisory authority.

You can contact Meridian at enquiries@meridianstrategicadvisory.com. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

External Links

The website may link to podcast platforms, media outlets, professional profiles, partner organisations and other third-party websites. Meridian is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third-party websites.

Changes

Meridian may update this policy as its services, providers or legal obligations change. The date above should be updated when material changes are made.