Safeguarding Policy

Medquara runs live online sessions for high-school and university students, including students under 18. Their safety and wellbeing come first. This policy explains how we keep participants safe and what to do if you have a concern.

Who this policy applies to

Everyone who acts for Medquara: co-founders, team members, volunteers and guest speakers or experts. Everyone must follow it.

Who can take part

• Participants must be at least 14 years old.
• Participants under 18 must register with the knowledge and agreement of a parent or guardian, and a parent or guardian should make the purchase.
• We do not knowingly collect information from children under 14.

How our online sessions are run

• Sessions are held on Zoom and hosted by a Medquara team member, who is present throughout.
• Sessions are group sessions. We use a waiting room, admit only registered participants, and ask participants to join under their real name.
• Private chat between participants is turned off, and only the host and approved speakers can share their screen.
• Join links are for registered participants only and must not be shared.
• All live sessions and meetings with participants or school groups are recorded for safety. Recordings are stored securely, accessible only to authorised team members, and kept only as long as needed.
• Recordings, and any photos or images of participants, are never published or used in marketing without written consent (from a parent or guardian for under-18s).
• Participants must not record, screenshot or share sessions themselves.

Rules for team members and guest experts

• No private one-to-one video calls, calls or messages with participants. Contact goes through official Medquara channels, and a parent or guardian is included where a participant is under 18.
• No connecting with participants on personal social media or messaging apps.
• No asking for, or sharing, personal details such as home address, school details or personal contact information, and no giving gifts.
• No in-person meetings with participants arranged through Medquara.
• Language and behaviour must always be professional and appropriate.
• Guest speakers are briefed on this policy before taking part and are always hosted by a Medquara team member.
• Sessions never involve identifiable patient information. Research activities use openly available, de-identified educational datasets, and participants do not diagnose patients or make clinical judgements.

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead

Medquara has a Designated Safeguarding Lead who is responsible for this policy and for responding to any concerns. You can reach them at contact@medquara.com with the subject line “Safeguarding”.

Raising a concern

Anyone, including participants, parents and guardians, team members and guest speakers, can raise a concern about a participant’s safety or about the behaviour of anyone acting for Medquara. If anyone is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first (for example 911 in Canada or 999 in the UK), then tell us.

Email contact@medquara.com with the subject line “Safeguarding”. If your concern is about the Designated Safeguarding Lead, say so, and another member of the Medquara leadership team will handle it.

What we do when we receive a concern

• We take every concern seriously, record it and review it promptly.
• We may speak with the participant, a parent or guardian, or the team member involved, and may remove a person from sessions while we look into it.
• Where a child may be at risk of harm, or a law may have been broken, we report it to the appropriate child-protection authority or the police.
• We keep concerns confidential and share information only with people who need it to keep someone safe. We cannot promise to keep a concern secret if sharing it is needed to protect a child.

Review

We review this policy at least once a year and after any serious concern. Questions about it are welcome at contact@medquara.com.