Terms of Service
Last updated: 16 September 2026
1. Agreement
These terms govern use of thewerc.app (the Platform) provided by Whole Elephant Research Company Limited (trading as The WERC App). By creating an account or using the Platform you agree to them. If you use the Platform for an institution, the Institutional User Agreement and any signed Data Processing Addendum also apply to that institution.
You must be 18 or over. Privacy practices are described in the Privacy Policy.
2. The service
The WERC App is a research operations platform: recruitment, booking, messaging, points and rewards, and optional modules an institution may enable. It is not a medical device, not a clinical decision tool, and not a provider of healthcare or academic ethics review.
We may change features, suspend access for security, or retire unused modules with reasonable notice where practicable.
3. Accounts
- Keep your password confidential and use a unique, strong password.
- Two-factor authentication is available in account settings; staff should enable it.
- You are responsible for activity on your account until you tell us it is compromised.
- Provide accurate information. Institution technicians may approve or refuse membership.
4. Studies and ethics
If you join a study you agree to:
- Read that study's information sheet and consent materials
- Provide honest screening and demographic answers you choose to give
- Withdraw if you wish, using the product or by contacting the research team
Researchers and institutions — not The WERC App — are responsible for ethics approval, participant information sheets, and data they collect on external tools (Gorilla, Qualtrics, Pavlovia, and similar).
5. Points and rewards
Points are a platform incentive, not wages, salary, or cash. Catalogues and fulfilment are set by the relevant institution (and optionally WERC). We may reverse clearly fraudulent completions. Already awarded points are not generally clawed back after quality reviews; serious abuse may restrict new studies or redemptions as described in-product.
6. Acceptable use
You must not:
- Misrepresent your identity or age, or create accounts for others without permission
- Attempt to access another tenant's data, probe, or overload the service
- Upload malware or attempt to bypass security or completion checks
- Use the Platform for unlawful discrimination or unethical recruitment
- Re-identify anyone from a WERC Data Bank package, or help others do so
- Scrape the service or copy it to run a competing platform
7. Intellectual property
We and our licensors own the Platform software, design, and documentation. You keep ownership of content you submit (messages, study materials you upload), and you grant us a licence to host and display that content as needed to provide the service. You must have the rights to any instruments or files you upload.
8. Availability
We aim for a reliable service but do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free operation. Scheduled maintenance and third-party outages (hosting, email, experiment platforms) may affect access.
9. Liability
Nothing in these terms excludes liability that UK law does not allow us to exclude, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. If you are a consumer, your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are unaffected.
For institution and business use, The WERC App's aggregate liability is limited to the greater of £10,000 or fees paid by that institution in the 12 months before the claim, except for a personal data breach caused by our negligence.
10. Suspension and closure
We or your institution may suspend or close accounts that breach these terms, fail integrity policy, or present a security risk. You may close your account in settings, subject to transferring studies or labs you still own.
11. Changes
We may update these terms by posting a new version on this page. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance of the update. If a change is material we will try to give reasonable notice.
12. Law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, except that consumers may also use courts of their UK home nation as the law allows.