Faculty perceptions of unidentified aerial phenomena
Marissa E. Yingling, Charlton W. Yingling
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Vol. 10
Summary
The first national survey of academic faculty attitudes toward UAP, conducted across 14 disciplines at 144 major US research universities (N=1,460). Published under Nature/Palgrave. Key findings: 19% of faculty reported personally observing UAP; 37% expressed interest in UAP research; fewer than 1% had actually conducted it. The gap between personal interest and active research is directly attributed to professional stigma and fear of reputational harm — the baseline dataset that motivates its 2024 follow-up (`yingling-2024-academic-freedom`). Directly relevant to DECUR's mission of academic legitimization of UAP inquiry.
Abstract
We report the results of the first national survey of faculty perceptions of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) conducted at major US research universities. Surveying 1,460 faculty across 144 institutions and 14 academic disciplines, we find that 19% of respondents reported personally observing a phenomenon they could not explain, 37% expressed interest in conducting UAP-related research, and fewer than 1% had done so. Faculty were substantially more open to UAP inquiry in private conversations than in professional settings, and a majority identified social and professional stigma as the primary barrier to engagement. We discuss implications for the normalization of UAP research in academia and the role of institutional culture in shaping scientific inquiry at the margins of accepted knowledge.
Citation
Marissa E. Yingling, Charlton W. Yingling. (2023). Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Vol. 10. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01746-3
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01746-3