IFEX UAP Workshop 2024

Reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), as they are usually called today, have been around for a long time. Even if the majority of observations can be explained by known phenomena or objects such as airplanes, drones, weather phenomena or spacecraft, a small proportion still lack a clear and comprehensible explanation. This is precisely where the potential lies to actually discover something new and possibly very significant for science and society. However, as the topic has been subject to a strong stigma in recent decades for a variety of reasons, science has hardly dealt with it so far. We are currently seeing this situation change and the topic of UFOs/UAPs is increasingly being discussed and even systematically investigated in serious academic circles.

The Interdisciplinary Research Center for Extraterrestrial Studies (IFEX) at the University of Würzburg has the goal, as laid down in its statute, of researching the topic of UAPs using scientific (or reliable) methods and thus visibly advancing the topic in Germany at an academic, institutional level. This year's IFEX UAP workshop is intended to make a contribution in this context. Due to the highly interdisciplinary aspects, the topic will be considered and discussed from a wide variety of perspectives. These include highly developed technical methods for obtaining instrumental data such as detection, observation and analysis, whereby the inclusion of AI will be essential. Conceptually, in addition to modern descriptive-analytical high-tech methods, experimental approaches that are as reproducible as possible must also be developed to enable hypotheses to be generated and tested - an ambitious and urgently necessary way to move UAP research away from pure phenomenology. The interdisciplinary aspect is made clear by the inclusion of psychological, legal, ethical, life science, political and sociological implications and is represented not only by speakers at the workshop, but also by permanent experts representatives within IFEX. The international workshop thus offers a broad platform for a comprehensive and future-oriented scientific discussion of the topic, which could prove to be very important for science and society.

The event is open to the university public with invited guests and media representatives and will be held in hybrid form. The venue is the Zuse lecture hall at the Institute of Computer Science on the Hubland South Campus of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.

Conference President and Chairman of the Board of IFEX
Professor Dr. Hakan Kayal

28 May 2024

Our speakers (in the order of the presentations)

Dr.-Ing. Hakan Kayal, Chair of Space Technology at the Department of Computer Science VIII of Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (JMU) and Chairman of the "Interdisciplinary Research Center for Extraterrestrial" (IFEX), where, in addition to space research and space technology, the search for extraterrestrial life, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and officially, in the university's research canon, the investigation of unidentified flying objects and phenomena (UFOs/UAP) are studied.
IFEX website: https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/ifex/
Workshop presentation topic:

Anomaly Detection & Observations System (ADEOS); A reliability rating for UAP observations (together with D. Schulze-Makuch)

André Kramer, Social Worker and Board Member of the "Society for the Investigation of the UFO Phenomenon e.V." (GEP). Current research focuses: conspiracy theories, theoretical questions in UFO research, and the psychosocial consequences of UFO abduction experiences. Co-author of "UFOs - Phenomenon or Phantom Phenomenon? An Analysis of the UFO Phenomenon based on the unexplained sighting cases of the GEP" (2013).
GEP website: https://www.ufo-forschung.de
Workshop presentation topic:
50 years of civilian data collection on UAP

Andreas Müller, Journalist, Non-fiction Author, and Editor of the news portal www.GrenzWissenschaft-Aktuell.de (GreWi). Author of "Deutschlands UFO-Akten“ (“Germany's UFO Files", 2021) and "Deutschlands historische UFO-Akten” (“Germany's Historical UFO Files", 2023).
GreWi website: https://www.grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.de
Workshop presentation topic:
A Review of German files within 'Project Blue Book'

Michael Landwehr, Diplom-Biologist and since 2023 new 1st Chairman of the Interdisciplinary Society for the Analysis of Anomalous Phenomena e.V. (IGAAP). Co-editor with Illobrand v. Ludwiger of the four volumes of the "IGAAP Reports" published so far.

IGAAP website: https://www.igaap-de.org/
Workshop presentation topic:
Introducing the Electromagnetic and Gravitational Effects Database

Dr. Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Professor of Planetary Habitability and Astrobiology at the Technical University of Berlin and Adjunct Professor at Washington State University and Arizona State University. Recently published by him at Springer: "The Living Universe: Complex Life on Many Planets?
TU Berlin website: https://www-astro.physik.tu-berlin.de/Astrobiology/node/19
Workshop presentation topic:
A reliability rating for UAP observations (together with H. Kayal)

Philippe Ailleris, Project Controller Copernicus Programme at ESA and Administrator of the "UAP Observations Reporting Scheme Project" as well as member of the Board of Directors of the UFODATA project.
UFODATA website: https://www.ufodata.net/
Workshop presentation topic:
Under the UFO Radar: Exploring Ufology's Impact on European Society

Dr. Greg Eghigian, Professor of History and Bioethics at PennState University and author of the recently published book "After the Flying Saucers Came - A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon" (2024).
Website: https://history.la.psu.edu/directory/greg-eghigian/
Workshop presentation topic:

Alien Traumas: A History of Debate Over the Alien Abduction Experience

Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, Assistant Professor at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (NORDITA) in Stockholm and Head of the project "Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations" (VASCO) and the ExoProbe project, which she will report on.
VASCO website: https://www.vascoproject.org
Workshop presentation topic:
ExoProbe: a system of wide-field telescopes to search for ET probes

Dr. Massimo Teodorani, Astrophysicist (among others at the Astronomical Observatories of Bologna, Naples & SETI) and non-fiction author, Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU).
Website: https://massimoteodorani.com/
Workshop presentation topic:
Investigating UAP Events Using Astronomical Techniques

Dr. Christian Peters, Managing Director of the Bremen Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS) at the University of Bremen. Research focuses include epistemology and the relationship between religion and politics. In 2023, he published an article with Greg Eghigian in "Scientific American" on the importance of social sciences for UFO research.
Christian Peters BIGGS website: https://www.bigsss-bremen.de/people/staff/dr-christian-peters
Workshop presentation topic:
The Social Epistemology of Alien Minds

Dr. Andreas Anton, Sociologist at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Hygiene (IGPP) in Freiburg. Together with Dr. Michael Schetsche, he has conducted fundamental work in the field of exosociology. Co-author, among others, of "The Society of Aliens. Introduction to Exosociology" (2019), "They are here. How the first contact with aliens could change our society. A thought experiment" (2020) and "The Fight for Truth. Conspiracy theories between fake, fiction and facts" (2021).
IGPP website: https://www.igpp.de/eks/andreas_anton.htm
Workshop presentation topic:
Thinking the unthinkable. Is there still a UFO taboo?

Klaus Stähle, independent lawyer for labor law, deals with legal issues in contact with extraterrestrials and UAP in addition to labor law and his political work. Author of "Legal issues in contact with extraterrestrials" (2023).
Website: https://www.kanzlei-staehle.de/
Workshop presentation topic: Legal classification of the UAP/UFO phenomenon;
UFO's/UAP's in German federal politics and authorities

Dr. Moritz Wullen, since 2007 Director of the Art Library of the State Museums of Berlin. Here he curated the special exhibition "UFO 1665 - The Aerial Battle of Stralsund" in 2023, which showed the thought patterns and communication strategies that still determine the reporting on "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (UAPs) today.
Exhibition website: https://www.smb.museum/ausstellungen/detail/?tx_smb_pi1%5Bexhibition%5D=4630&cHash=263f5498ceacf1d504feec4309918b9d
Workshop presentation topic:
A Cube in a Sphere': Prefigurations of Common UAP-shapes in Early Modern Images

Dr. Matthew Szydagis, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University at Albany and scientific director of the civilian UFO research organization UAPx. University at
Albany website: https://www.albany.edu/physics/faculty/matthew-szydagis
Workshop presentation topic:
The Latest Scientific News From UAlbany & UAPx

Dr. Kevin Knuth, Professor of Physics at the University at Albany and Vice President of UAPx.
KnuthLab University at Albany website: http://knuthlab.org/pmwiki.php/People/Knuth
Workshop presentation topic:
Who is Hanging Out in Our Oceans?

Larry Hancock, Board Member of the civilian UFO research organization "Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies" (SCU).
SCU website: https://www.explorescu.org/team
Workshop presentation topic:
UAP Intentions Studies

Dr. Joshua Pierson, active US Army Warrant Officer with 24 years of service in the field of intelligence and national security and consultant at the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU). His experience with UAP began with his published dissertation titled "Detectable Signatures of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena."
SCU website: https://www.explorescu.org/team
Workshop presentation topic:
Building a UAP Profile