1. Agreement and operator
These terms govern use of ResearchBuddy. By creating an account or using the workspace, you agree to them. If you are under 18, ask a parent, guardian, teacher, or other responsible adult to review these terms with you. If an organisation provides your access, additional institutional terms may apply.
ResearchBuddy is a product operated by Nigel Holland, a sole trader trading as Studio342, based in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. ResearchBuddy and Studio342 are trading and product names, not separate incorporated companies or legal entities. References in these terms to “we”, “us”, or “our” mean Nigel Holland trading as Studio342.
2. What ResearchBuddy provides
For each successfully completed question, ResearchBuddy provides AI-assisted research notes consisting of a concise summary, a headed breakdown, web source suggestions, practical next steps, and a follow-up question. Signed-in users can save responses in their workspace and download a research session as a PDF. It is not a writing service, qualified academic adviser, legal or professional adviser, or guaranteed source database.
AI output may be incomplete, inaccurate, outdated, or cite a source incorrectly. You must verify important claims and original sources. You remain responsible for your research, citations, academic decisions, and submitted work.
3. Accounts
You must provide accurate information, keep login details confidential, and notify us of suspected unauthorised access. One person should not use another person’s individual account. You are responsible for activity performed through your account unless caused by our failure to use reasonable care.
4. Acceptable use and academic integrity
You must not use ResearchBuddy to:
- obtain submission-ready coursework or direct answers to an active assessment;
- plagiarise, misrepresent authorship, or breach an institution’s academic-integrity rules;
- upload material you do not have permission to use, including substantial copyrighted or confidential text;
- submit personal, medical, safeguarding, financial, or other highly sensitive information;
- probe, disrupt, overload, reverse engineer, or bypass security or usage limits;
- use output unlawfully or to harm another person.
We may apply integrity safeguards or refuse requests to protect learning, users, and the service.
5. Tokens, payment, cancellation, and refunds
One token permits one successfully completed research question. New accounts receive one complimentary token. Additional tokens are sold as one-time packs; there are no subscriptions, recurring payments, or monthly allowances.
Paddle is the merchant of record and authorised reseller for paid token packs. This means your purchase and payment transaction is with Paddle, while ResearchBuddy supplies access to the tokens and service. The price, currency, and applicable taxes are shown at checkout. Purchases are also subject to Paddle’s Buyer Terms and the ResearchBuddy Refund Policy.
Except where applicable law or the Refund Policy provides otherwise, token-pack purchases are generally non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Nothing in these terms limits mandatory consumer rights.
To request a monetary refund or exercise a withdrawal right, use the support link in your Paddle receipt, visit paddle.net, or follow the instructions in our Refund Policy. If Paddle refunds or reverses a token-pack purchase, unused tokens from that purchase may be removed from the account.
Unused tokens remain attached to the purchasing account until they are used. Tokens are not transferable or redeemable for cash. If a research request fails or is blocked by an academic-integrity safeguard, ResearchBuddy automatically restores the service token used for that request; this is an account-balance correction, not a monetary refund.
6. Your content and intellectual property
You retain rights you hold in questions and other material you submit. You give us a limited licence to host, process, transmit, and reproduce that material only as needed to provide, secure, and improve the service in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
ResearchBuddy’s software, branding, interface, and original site materials remain owned by or licensed to the service operator. Subject to these terms, you may use generated guidance for personal educational research, but third-party rights may still apply to sources and quoted material.
7. Availability and changes
We aim to provide a reliable service but do not promise uninterrupted availability or that every feature will always remain unchanged. We may maintain, update, limit, or discontinue features. Where a material change adversely affects purchased tokens, we will provide notice where reasonably possible and respect applicable consumer law.
8. Liability
Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or statutory consumer rights. Subject to that, ResearchBuddy is not responsible for academic grading decisions, reliance on unverified AI output, third-party sources, or losses that were not reasonably foreseeable when the contract began.
If you use the service as a consumer, these terms do not affect your statutory rights. Additional limitations for institutional or business customers should be agreed separately.
9. Suspension and termination
You may stop using the service and request account closure through the contact form. We may suspend or close access for serious or repeated breach, fraud, security risk, non-payment, or legal necessity. Where appropriate, we will explain the reason and provide a reasonable opportunity to appeal or retrieve permitted data.
10. Governing law, jurisdiction, and contact
These terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them, their subject matter, or their formation are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
If you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom, you may bring legal proceedings in the courts of the part of the United Kingdom in which you live. In all other cases, the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory rights that applicable law gives you.
The operator is Nigel Holland, a sole trader trading as Studio342, based in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Questions about these terms can be emailed to help@researchbuddy.uk or submitted through our contact form.