July 25, 2014

UAP workshop at CNES brings together UFO experts and scientists for the first time

On 8 and 9 July, CNES brought together scientists and UFO1 experts in Paris for a workshop devoted to methods and tools that could improve collection and analysis of data on unidentified aerospace phenomena. This international gathering was the first of its kind combining the experience of UFO associations with psychology and astronomy research, plus the added expertise of the French Gendarmerie and Air Force.

GEIPAN2, the French UAP research and information group, was founded by CNES in 1977 to collect eyewitness accounts and study unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAPs).

Pursuing its pioneering UAP efforts, CNES brought together for the first time top scientists (Jérémie Vaubaillon from the Paris Observatory, Jacques Py, Professor of social and cognitive psychology, and Thomas Rabeyron, senior lecturer at Nantes University), representatives of the French Gendarmerie and Air Force, renowned UFO specialists (Richard Haines, Jacques Vallée, Bertrand Méheust and Ron Westrum) and some 100 players from the international UFO scene, underlining the key benefits of cross-disciplinary collaboration in such a complex field.

Workshop participants explored a number of avenues with a view to improving scientific treatment of eyewitness reports:
- recent advances in witness interviewing techniques
- scientific psychology research into witnesses’ beliefs and personality
- pooling of databases of UAP sightings
- automatic tracking systems

GEIPAN will post the full proceedings of the workshops on its website: www.geipan.fr


1 UFO stands for ‘unidentified flying object’. This term is usually inappropriate, as in most cases observers describe a known or unknown phenomenon, typically involving lights in the sky, but with no evidence pointing to an actual physical object. The generic term UAP (for unidentified aerospace phenomenon) is therefore more accurate.
2 Groupe d’Etude et d’Information sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés


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Pascale Bresson Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39 pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
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