ECOS Helper
In short. ECOS Helper is a Chrome extension with a server behind it. To draft your ethics application it needs to:
We do not sell data, show advertising, or use third-party analytics. You can delete your documents in the extension and ask us to delete your account at any time. You are shown this information and asked to agree before you sign in.
ECOS Helper helps researchers and study coordinators prepare ethics applications for the NHG Domain Specific Review Board (DSRB) through the Ethics and Compliance Online System (ECOS). It is operated by the National University of Singapore (“NUS”, “we”, “us”). It has two tools:
The extension runs in your Chrome browser. The drafting is done by a server we operate (“our server”). This policy covers both, and applies to everyone who installs the extension or creates an account.
To create an account we collect your name, email address and a password you choose, plus an invite code that your study team gives you. The invite code is checked and not stored. Your password travels over HTTPS, is encrypted before being passed to our document server, and is stored only as a one-way hash. We use these details to sign you in, to keep your projects separate from other people's, and to contact you about your account if we need to.
To draft answers, you upload study documents to a project: protocols, consent forms, grant proposals, investigator brochures and similar. These are stored on our server, split into text passages, and indexed so that relevant passages can be found for each question. Producing that index, and drafting each answer, involves sending passage text to OpenAI (see section 6). Documents stay in your project until you delete them.
The answers drafted for a project, and your edits and approvals, are kept in the extension on your computer (section 3). When you download the completed Word form, the answers are sent to our server to be placed into the form, and a copy of the completed form is saved to your project on our server so it can be found again and used by the Filler. The assistant's working record for each project (the questions asked, the passages retrieved, and the answers it produced) is also kept on our server as part of that project.
When you upload a completed Word form to ECOS Filler, our server reads the answers out of it in memory and returns them to the extension. The Filler does not keep a copy of the uploaded file.
We do not use cookies, advertising identifiers, or any third-party analytics service in the extension.
The extension keeps the following in its own storage on your computer. It is not shared with websites you visit, and Chrome removes it when you uninstall the extension.
Signing out removes the sign-in tokens. “Clear saved answers” removes a project's drafted answers from your computer.
The extension runs on the ECOS website (www.ecos-research.com.sg) only when you use the Filler on an ECOS page. There it reads the question labels and the option labels of the form so that each answer can be placed in the right field, and then types your answers into those fields. It does not read values you have already entered into the form, does not read other pages of the ECOS site, and does not send anything from the ECOS page to our server. The matching of labels to answers happens inside the extension on your computer.
We use the information above only to:
We do not use your documents or answers to train AI models, we do not use them for advertising, profiling or marketing, and we do not sell or rent any personal data.
| Data | Kept until |
|---|---|
| Account details | You ask us to delete your account. |
| Uploaded documents, completed forms, assistant working record | You delete them in the extension, or your account is deleted. |
| Sign-in sessions on the server | Seven days, or when you sign out, whichever is sooner. |
| Server request logs | A short period for troubleshooting. They are capped in size and contain no documents, answers or IP addresses. |
| Pseudonymous usage counts | Up to 24 months. |
| Data in your browser | Until you sign out or clear it, or uninstall the extension. |
Any backup copies are deleted within 30 days of the live data being deleted.
Under Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act you may also ask how your personal data has been used or disclosed in the past year. Requests go to the contact address below.
No system can be guaranteed completely secure. If we become aware of a breach affecting your data we will inform you and, where required, the Personal Data Protection Commission.
| Permission | What it is used for |
|---|---|
| Side panel | Shows the extension beside the page you are working on. |
| Active tab, scripting | Lets the Filler read the labels on the ECOS form and type your answers into it, only when you click to fill. |
Access to www.ecos-research.com.sg | The only website the extension interacts with. It does not read or change any other site. |
The extension does not load or run code from any remote source.
Our use of information received from Google APIs and from the browser adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Data is collected only for the purposes described here, is not sold, is not used for advertising, and is not transferred to third parties except as described in section 6.
ECOS Helper is for research staff at institutions. It is not directed at, and we do not knowingly collect data from, anyone under 18.
When this policy changes in a way that affects how your data is used, the effective date above is updated and the extension asks you to read and accept the new version the next time you sign in. Minor clarifications take effect when published here.
What changed on 21 September 2026. This version replaces the policy dated 16 September 2026. The earlier text described the extension as keeping all data in the browser and sending nothing to a server, which no longer reflected the product. This version describes the server, the AI processing, and the retention of documents and forms accurately, and the extension now asks for your agreement before you sign in.
Questions, access or deletion requests, and complaints: contact@innobridge.ai. Please write from the email address you registered with so we can verify the request.