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Society for UAP Studies Announces 2025 Annual Conference

Updated: 2 days ago

The Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS) is pleased to announce its 2025 Annual Conference, Interdisciplinarity in Contemporary UAP Studies, to be held December 4–6, 2025, as a fully online, globally accessible event beginning daily at 7am PT / 10am ET / 16:00 CET.


Registration for the 2025 Annual Conference is now open: https://uapstudies2025.vfairs.com/


This year’s conference brings together scholars and practitioners from across the social sciences, humanities, physical sciences, and consciousness studies for three days of focused, interdisciplinary engagement. The program features compelling plenary presentations, discipline-specific workshops, and keynote addresses from two of the most respected thinkers working at the intersection of knowledge systems, institutions, and anomalous phenomena.



Distinguished Keynote Speakers


Professor Steve Fuller, a pioneering voice in the sociology of science, has spent his career exploring how knowledge systems evolve, how paradigm shifts occur, and how emerging fields gain legitimacy. His work on epistemic communities and scientific revolutions provides an essential foundation for understanding UAP studies as a new, boundary-crossing academic domain. Professor Fuller’s keynote will examine how traditional academic structures can adapt to, support, and meaningfully advance rigorous UAP research.


Professor Ron Westrum, an internationally recognized expert on organizational culture and information flow, brings decades of expertise in understanding how institutions handle unexpected or anomalous data. His well-known typologies of organizational response—ranging from pathological to generative—are crucial for examining how governments, scientific bodies, and research institutions engage with UAP-related information. Professor Westrum’s keynote will address the challenges and opportunities faced by researchers working with unconventional or contested evidence.


Together, Fuller and Westrum will offer challenging, forward-looking perspectives tailored to the interdisciplinary needs of contemporary UAP studies, highlighting methodological issues, institutional barriers, and pathways for scholarly progress.



Featured Plenary Presentations


This year’s agenda includes a strong lineup of plenary speakers whose work spans scientific, philosophical, cultural, and methodological approaches to UAP phenomena:


  • Dr. Michael Glawson & Dr. Courtney Bower — A new framework for credible, legible, and tractable UAP research

  • Prof. Michael Zimmerman — Rethinking the meaning and legacy of “alien abductions”

  • Michaël Vaillant — Governing uncertainty in interdisciplinary UAP investigations

  • Dr. Matteo Polato — Ontologies of UFOs from John Keel and Jacques Vallée to Hellier

  • Assoc. Prof. Tiina Mahlamäki — A history of the Finnish UFO movement

  • Dr. Adam Dodd — UFOs as more-than-human media

  • Dr. Massimo Teodorani — Plasma, consciousness, and advanced propulsion in a unified UAP framework



Who Should Attend


This conference welcomes academics, researchers, and practitioners from across the social sciences, humanities, physical sciences, and consciousness studies. Graduate students exploring UAP phenomena and engaged members of the public are equally encouraged to participate in this unique interdisciplinary forum. This event supports the Society for UAP Studies’ broader mission to advance rigorous, interdisciplinary UAP research and foster a thriving international scholarly community.



Leadership Perspectives


Commenting on the conference’s academic goals, Dr. Adam Dodd, SUAPS Director for Academic Events and Programs, said:


“UAP studies now demand an integrative intellectual effort that crosses disciplinary borders. This conference gives researchers the conceptual tools, methodological clarity, and scholarly community needed to push the field forward responsibly and creatively.”


Mike Cifone, President and Executive Director of SUAPS, emphasized the significance of this year’s theme:


“Our mission is to help build a serious, coherent academic field around UAP research. By convening experts from so many disciplines, we’re strengthening the foundations needed for shared standards, shared language, and meaningful scientific and humanistic progress.”



About the Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS)


The Society for UAP Studies (SUAPS) is an international, independent academic organization dedicated to advancing rigorous, interdisciplinary research into Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). SUAPS fosters scholarly collaboration across the social sciences, humanities, physical sciences, and consciousness studies, promoting methodological innovation, critical inquiry, and responsible public dialogue. Through conferences, publications, working groups, and educational initiatives, the Society supports a growing global community of researchers committed to developing UAP studies as a coherent, credible, and academically grounded field. Learn more about SUAPS initiatives, membership opportunities, and upcoming events at the Society’s official website.https://www.societyforuapstudies.org



 
 
 
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