ILIAD ACADEMY TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Welcome to the Iliad Academy.

The Iliad Academy is an educational and knowledge-sharing platform created as part of the ILIAD Project, an EU-funded Horizon 2020 initiative. The Academy offers free, open-access resources including self-paced online courses, recorded webinars, documentation, tools, and links to third-party resources, all related to the development and application of Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTOs). 

The Iliad Academy website was developed and is managed by the American University of Armenia Fund (hereinafter also referred to as: "AUA", "us", "we", or "our"), an academic institution registered in Armenia. AUA provides educational and training programmes within the framework of the ILIAD Project, which is implemented by a consortium of international partners and supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme.

These Terms and Conditions (hereinafter also referred to as: "Terms") govern your access to and use of the Iliad Academy website and any associated services, content, or resources (collectively referred to as: the “Services”). 

Please read these Terms carefully,  together with our Privacy Policy, before accessing the site, enrolling in any course, or using any functionality. By using the Iliad Academy, you agree to be bound by these Terms and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. If you do not agree with these Terms, you should not use the Services. 

You may contact our customer service team at admin@ocean-twin.eu with Attention: Iliad Academy: ________________________.

  1. Acceptance of Terms

    1. By accessing or using the Iliad Academy website and its associated Services, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions, as well as our Privacy Policy.

    2. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the Services.

    3. Some courses or resources may include additional guidelines, policies, or terms specific to their use. By participating in such courses or using such resources, you also agree to comply with those additional terms.

    4. If you are using the Iliad Academy on behalf of an organization, institution, or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to accept these Terms on its behalf.

    5. We reserve the right to update, revise, or modify these Terms at any time. If we make material changes, we will notify users by posting a notice on the website. Your continued use of the Services after such changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms.

  2. Program Access and Participation

    1. To access learning materials and participate in courses, you must create a user account on the Iliad Academy website. 

    2. It is your responsibility to ensure you have the necessary equipment, internet connection, and browser compatibility to access the Services. The Iliad Academy is not responsible for any limitations in access resulting from user-side technical constraints.

    3. Your access to a course or learning resource may be time-limited depending on the course design or platform updates. We reserve the right to archive or retire any course or resource at any time.

  3. License and Use of Content

    1. Subject to these Terms and our policies, we will grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license right to use our Services. The rights granted herein are only for your personal, non-commercial use, unless you obtain our written permission otherwise. 

    2. You may access the Services made available through the Iliad Academy solely for your own learning. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, you may not reproduce, distribute, publicly display, modify, or make derivative works from any part of the content without prior written permission from the Iliad Academy or the relevant rights holder.

    3. All intellectual property rights in the course materials and platform content (excluding user-generated content) are either owned by or licensed to the Iliad Academy and its partners and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws.

    4. You agree not to:

      1. Share your account or login credentials with others;

      2. Create more than one account without express permission;

      3. Attempt to access content or areas of the site you are not authorized to access;

      4. Use automated systems (e.g., bots, scrapers) to extract or copy platform content.

    5. Any third-party materials or tools linked through the Iliad Academy are subject to their respective licenses and terms of use. The Iliad Academy makes no claims over the ownership or accuracy of third-party content and disclaims responsibility for any issues arising from its use.

  4. No Academic Credit

    1. We do not grant academic credit for the completion of courses, and we have no obligation to have courses recognized by any educational institution or accreditation organization.

  5. User Conduct and Community Guidelines

    1. By using the Iliad Academy, you agree to engage respectfully and responsibly with all Services, content, and other users. Your use of the platform must comply with these Terms, as well as all applicable laws and regulations.

    2. When participating in forums, submitting assignments, attending webinars, or engaging with any interactive component of the Academy, you agree not to:

      1. Upload, share, or transmit any content that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise objectionable;

      2. Share content that infringes upon the intellectual property or privacy rights of others;

      3. Impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation with any individual or organization;

      4. Disrupt or interfere with the operation of the platform, including introducing malware or attempting to gain unauthorized access to systems;

      5. Use the Services for advertising, solicitation, or other commercial purposes;

      6. Post or distribute false or misleading information.

    3. We reserve the right to remove content that violates these guidelines, to suspend or terminate your access to the Services, and to report unlawful activity to the relevant authorities if necessary.

  6. Intellectual Property and Ownership

    1. All materials made available on the Iliad Academy platform are the intellectual property of the Iliad Academy, its consortium partners, or licensed third parties, unless otherwise stated. These materials are protected by copyright, trademark, and other applicable intellectual property laws.

    2. You may use these materials solely for personal, non-commercial learning purposes. Unless expressly permitted in writing, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, publish, transmit, distribute, or create derivative works from any part of the Iliad Academy content.

    3. You may not remove, alter, or obscure any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices from materials on the platform.

    4. Some resources may include open licenses (e.g. Creative Commons). In such cases, the applicable license terms will be clearly stated and must be followed.

  7. User-Generated Content

    1. The Iliad Academy may enable you to submit content, such as discussion posts, assignments, feedback, or shared resources (“User Content”). You retain ownership of your User Content. However, by submitting such content to the platform, you grant the Iliad Academy a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, reproduce, display, distribute, and adapt your content for academic, research, publication, and quality assurance purposes. Where appropriate, credit will be given to you as the creator.

    2. If your content includes personally identifiable information, we will take steps to anonymize it unless explicit consent is given for attribution.

  8. Data Access and Storage

    1. By using the Iliad Academy platform, you acknowledge and agree that the personal data and materials you provide—whether during account registration, course participation, forum discussions, assignments, or other platform interactions—may be collected, stored, and processed for the purposes of delivering, improving, and evaluating the Services.

    2. This information may be accessible to:

      1. The American University of Armenia Fund (AUA) – as the managing institution of the Iliad Academy;

      2. Blue Lobster IT Limited (UK) – as the technical administrator and data processor of the platform;

      3. RAMANI B.V. (Netherlands) – as a project partner supporting platform oversight under the ILIAD Project.

    3. Access to your data by these entities is governed by appropriate data processing agreements, confidentiality obligations, and applicable data protection laws.

  9. Availability and Modification of Services

    1. We aim to provide continuous and reliable access to the Iliad Academy platform and its resources. However, we do not guarantee that the Services will be available at all times or without interruption.

    2. Access to certain courses, webinars, tools, or documentation may be temporarily or permanently modified, suspended, or discontinued for reasons including (but not limited to) technical maintenance, system upgrades, resource updates, platform improvements, or decisions by project partners.

    3. We reserve the right to:

      1. Add, update, remove, or revise content without prior notice;

      2. Limit or restrict access to certain materials or Services;

      3. Suspend the platform temporarily or permanently.

    4. While we make reasonable efforts to notify users of significant changes or interruptions in advance, we are not liable for any loss or inconvenience resulting from changes in availability, access, or content.

    5. We may also restrict access to users who violate these Terms, engage in misuse, or compromise the integrity or security of the platform.

  10. Limited Liability

    1. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL (INCLUDING LOSS OF USE, DATA, BUSINESS, OR PROFITS) DAMAGES, REGARDLESS OF LEGAL THEORY. OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICES, THE PROGRAMMES AND THE PROGRAMMES' MATERIAL, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE FEE YOU PAID TO US IN THE SIX (6) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE INCIDENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. THE LIMITATIONS OF DAMAGES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN US AND YOU.

    2. ALTHOUGH WE USE SKILL AND EFFORTS TO DEVELOP THE SERVICE, PROVIDE THE SERVICES, WE DO NOT GUARANTEE, MAKE NO REPRESENTATION, AND PROVIDE NO WARRANTY ABOUT THE RELIABILITY, EFFECTIVENESS, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SERVICES AND THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED TO YOU “AS IS AND ON AN “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. We make no warranty or condition that the Services will meet your requirements or be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free.

    3. YOU AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION RELATED TO THE SERVICES MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.


  1. Indemnification

    1. To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Iliad Academy, the American University of Armenia Fund, its partners, affiliates, project contributors, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, expenses, or costs (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

      1. Your access to or use of the Services;

      2. Your violation of these Terms or any applicable law;

      3. Your submission of any User Content that infringes the rights of another party, including intellectual property, privacy, or contractual rights;

      4. Any misuse of the platform, resources, or tools by you or by someone using your account.

    2. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defense of such claim.

  2. Termination of Access

    1. We reserve the right to suspend, restrict, or terminate your access to the Iliad Academy Services at any time, without prior notice, if:

      1. You violate these Terms and Conditions or any applicable laws;

      2. You engage in abusive, harmful, or disruptive behavior on the platform;

      3. You misuse platform resources or attempt to interfere with system integrity or security;

      4. You submit false information during registration or impersonate another person;

      5. Your account has been inactive for an extended period and is subject to deactivation as part of routine maintenance.

    2. Termination of access may result in the deletion of your user account, personal settings, and any saved progress in courses or materials. We are not liable to you or any third party for any such removal or deletion.

    3. We reserve the right to retain certain data for legal, administrative, or statistical purposes, as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

  3. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

    1. These Terms and Conditions, and any dispute or claim arising from or in connection with them or the use of the Iliad Academy Services, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Armenia, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

    2. In the event of any dispute, the parties agree to first attempt to resolve the matter informally and in good faith. If the dispute cannot be resolved through informal negotiation, it shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts of Yerevan, Armenia.

    3. By using the Iliad Academy, you agree to submit to the jurisdiction of these courts and waive any objection to the venue on grounds of forum non convenience or otherwise.

    4. Nothing in this section limits your rights under applicable consumer protection laws in your country of residence.

  4. Force Majeure

    1. We shall not be liable for any delay or failure in the performance of our obligations, when such delay or failure results in whole or in part from circumstances beyond its reasonable control or force majeure preventing or hindering performance, including without limitation, an Act of God, war, riot, fire, flood, industrial or labor disputes, bad weather, epidemic, pandemic, failure or delay on the part of sub-contractors,. Any such delay or failure shall extend the time for performing such obligation to as many days beyond the respective performance date as required to obtain removal of such circumstance.

  5. Final Provisions

    1. These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and the Iliad Academy regarding your use of the Services and supersede any prior agreements, understandings, or communications.

    2. Your participation in the Iliad Academy does not create any partnership, joint venture, agency, employment, or fiduciary relationship between you and the American University of Armenia Fund, the Iliad Consortium, or any other partner.

    3. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable under applicable law, then that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

    4. We may transfer or assign our rights and obligations under these Terms to another entity involved in the ongoing operation or management of the Iliad Academy platform. You may not transfer or assign your account or rights under these Terms without our prior written consent.

    5. These Terms are available in English. All correspondence, notices, and communication between you and the Iliad Academy shall be in English.

    6. We may revise these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify users by posting a notice on the website or contacting registered users via email (where possible). Continued use of the Services after such changes implies acceptance of the updated Terms.