Research and privacy

Escalation Lab runs two kinds of simulation. FLASHPOINT:2027 is an open exercise that anyone can play. The sealed research labs, such as TIN PROPHET, are sessions run with partner institutions, by invitation and with an access code. This page says what each one does with your data.

The open exercise

FLASHPOINT:2027 runs entirely in your browser. It stores nothing and sends nothing: there are no accounts, no cookies, no analytics and no server behind it. A run lives in memory until you close the tab. An after-action report exists only if you copy, download or print it yourself.

The sealed research labs

You can only enter a sealed research lab with a code issued by the facilitator of a session. During a session the lab records:

• the decisions and assessments a group enters, identified by the group's code;
• a time stamp for each step;
• survey answers, identified by a table number.

It never records names, email addresses or other identifiers. The lab does not ask for them anywhere, and the facilitator will not enter them for you.

In some sessions, part of what a group reads is generated during the session by an AI model (Claude, made by Anthropic). To generate it, the lab sends Anthropic the scenario material together with what groups have entered in that session: their decisions and assessments, public statements and messages to the other side, any updates sent by the facilitator, and anything typed to an AI assistant. This happens whether or not anyone uses the assistant. The lab uses Anthropic's service under an agreement that Anthropic does not keep this material after responding and does not use it to train its models; processing may take place outside the UK. No names, table numbers or other identifiers are sent. What comes back is logged with the rest of the session's data.

Participation is governed by the partner institution's ethics approval and consent process. How long session data are kept, and where, are set by that approval. You will be told what applies to your session, and asked for your consent, before it starts.

The lab's browser code is published unobfuscated so that anyone can read exactly what the browser does.

Withdrawing and questions

To withdraw, or to ask what was recorded for your group or table, contact Hallam Burnapp at h.burnapp.25@abdn.ac.uk, giving the session date and your group code or table number. Questions about a partner institution's ethics approval go to the contact named on your consent form.