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AURA/UPWARD

The Society for UAP Studies' flagship strategic research initiative.

AURA_UPWARD Logo Jul 10, 2025, 02_31_58 PM.png

AURA

The Execution Engine

Definition

What is AURA?

AURA is SUAPS’s operational system for managing anomaly research from submission to closeout. It turns fragmented inquiry into a structured, trackable process, embedding accountability and scientific rigor at every phase.

Image by George Pisarevsky

Features

Project Lifecycle Phases

Seven Lifecycle Phases, adapted from leading Aerospace industry best practices:
 

Phase 0: Concept Development
Phase 1: Feasibility & Scoping
Phase 2: Detailed Design & Funding Alignment
Phase 3: Pre-Execution Logistics
Phase 4: Research Execution
Phase 5: Analysis & Communication
Phase 6: Closeout & Integration

 

Image by Maxence Pira

Features

Research Readiness Levels

AURA uses a 9-point scale to position each project along a maturity continuum—from exploratory to implementation-ready. This guides resourcing, review, and milestone planning.

Research Team

Features

Milestone-Based Governance

Reviews assess not only merit but also feasibility, ethics, and contribution.
Each project follows a clear reporting pathway, with checkpoints and deliverables.

Teamwork

Features

Flexible by Design

AURA by design supports a wide range of research, including field reports, signal analysis, and philosophy of science.

Speculative or early-stage inquiries receive structured oversight to ensure clarity and reproducibility.

Concrete Structure
Flow
Image by George Pisarevsky
Image by Maxence Pira
Research Team
Teamwork
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How AURA Works

  1. Submit via Phase 0 intake or formal RFP

  2. Evaluate using SUAPS criteria and RRL scale

  3. Assign to lifecycle phase and governance track

  4. Monitor through embedded milestones

  5. Feed findings into the UPWARD system

AURA ensures every project entering the SUAPS ecosystem strengthens a growing body of credible, replicable, and ethically guided UAP knowledge.

UPWARD

The Integration Layer

Definition

What is UPWARD?

This is SUAPS’s meta-scientific infrastructure—the system that ensures research findings aren’t just completed, but connected. It integrates outputs from AURA and affiliated research into a shared framework for building cumulative insight.

Image by George Pisarevsky

Core Functions

Institutional Knowledge Map

A living, visual map of all SUAPS-affiliated research, which shows relationships between projects, domains, and emerging hypotheses.

Image by Maxence Pira

Core Functions

Cross-Project Synthesis

UPWARD curates research into thematic white papers, comparative models, and meta-analyses, which then allows the epistemic integration team to  identify recurring patterns, gaps, and signals across disciplines—something that is typically left unexplored by research institutions.

Research Team

Core Functions

Public & Policy Translation

Produces accessible briefings, learning tools, and citizen-science prompts, which finally helps build epistemic and methodological transparency, public understanding, and institutional trust—a valuable commodity in today's confusing landscape of information.

Teamwork

Core Functions

AI-Augmented Insight

UPWARD will consider hosting machine learning tools for pattern recognition, classification, and signal matching, steered by the rigorous ethical and intellectual guardrails established by the Society's Advisory Council and senior technology & innovation advisors, all of which finally supports human interpretation with ethical guidelines and reproducibility checks in place.

Concrete Structure
Read More
Flow
Image by George Pisarevsky
Image by Maxence Pira
Research Team
Teamwork
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UPWARD In Action

  1. A field report from Italy is linked to Canadian sensor data through the IKM

  2. Two AURA projects on aerial clustering inform a shared white paper

  3. A classification model is trained on data from 14 prior studies

  4. An open-access dashboard shows how research aligns with safety and information theory

UPWARD transforms raw findings into a navigable system of knowledge. It ensures that anomaly science becomes cumulative, coherent, and visibly relevant to institutions and the public alike.

After

What Makes This Possible

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The introduction of AURA/UPWARD marks a step-change in the credibility, continuity, and collaborative potential of UAP research.

Where projects were once isolated, they now interlock. Where funders once lacked transparency, they now gain visibility. Where insights once dissipated, they now compound.

Library
With AURA/UPWARD

We Enable

Lifecycle-Aware Research Cohorts

  • Researchers can join a structured network with a shared governance model, reducing duplication and enabling collaboration.


Growing Knowledge Commons

  • Each project enriches an institutional archive, deepening the field’s capacity to identify trends, compare results, and refine questions.


Funding Confidence

  • Donors can assess maturity, impact, and risk across proposals using a standardized lens.


Cross-Sector Credibility

  • Government partners, universities, and civil institutions can engage anomaly science through a professionalized, transparent channel.


Entrepreneurial Translation

  • Insights from UPWARD may seed opportunities for open innovation, responsible prototyping, or anomaly-aligned ventures.


Human–Machine Co-Discovery

  • Researchers working alongside ethical AI models can surface patterns, connect data types, and unlock second-order insights.

Sky

Finally -

AURA builds the structure. UPWARD ensures the meaning. Together, they give the field its first shared spine.


This is not the end of inquiry. It’s how sustainable science begins.

Skyscrapers

Engage

with the System

Metal Pipe Network

The SUAPS infrastructure

is not a closed system.

Image by Imagine Buddy

It is designed to grow with your participation.

Whether you're:

- a researcher

with a credible concept

- a funder

seeking structured scientific impact

- an institution

looking to engage with vetted research

- a collaborator

in public education, ethical policy or technology

who wants to help science advance, even without a research background

- a passionate supporter

Skyscrapers

Ways to engage

  • Submit a Research Idea through Phase 0 or structured RFPs.

  • Partner on Methodologies for sensing, data integration, or theory-building.

  • Fund a Portfolio Theme aligned with your mission or interests.

  • Contribute to Synthesis through peer review, forums, or white paper development.

  • Become a Supporter by contributing as little as $4/month to sustain and scale research infrastructure.

Sky

Contact

To learn more, or fund a cohort:

thank you!

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