The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) proudly announces the fourth annual Linda G. O’Bryant Noetic Sciences Research Prize. This year’s prize will be awarded to a groundbreaking proposal that offers a bold, scientifically rigorous inquiry into Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP; formerly “UFOs”) as an emerging phenomenon that encompasses both consciousness research and fundamental physical sciences. With a grant of $100,000, the 2026 award challenges researchers to move beyond traditional aerospace or national security framing and investigate how UAP relate to our understanding of reality, perception, and the foundations of scientific knowledge.
“After years of careful deliberation, IONS has now committed to taking its place as a thought leader on this evolutionary scientific frontier — one that has always been part of the legacy of our founder, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell,” said Executive Chair Claudia Welss.
According to IONS leadership, the Linda G. O’Bryant Prize was created to catalyze revolutionary discoveries and bring rigorous scientific methods to topics previously left on the cultural fringe. As UAP move into serious governmental and scientific attention, attending to the consciousness and noetic dimensions of the phenomenon is critical to navigating the frontier of science and humanity’s understanding of the nature of reality.
By focusing on this theme for the current prize, IONS builds directly on decades of advancing frameworks that challenge conventional, materialist assumptions about the relationship between mind and the physical world. While mainstream discourse on UAP has focused largely on engineering anomalies, a substantial and growing body of encounter narratives, case documentation, and official congressional and executive branch records points toward a connection between these phenomena and human consciousness. Reported elements including apparent telepathic communication, the responsiveness of physical phenomena to human attention or intention, and profound alterations in awareness, suggest that UAP may not be explainable within a strictly materialist framework. Understanding the UAP phenomenon may require a new, consciousness-inclusive model of reality.
“With this year’s framing of the Linda G. O’Bryant prize, we aim to bring the potentially civilization-altering UAP disclosure process into the open domain of public science. The phenomenon deserves the attention of free and collaborative science to benefit the whole of our human family,” said IONS president Thomas Brophy.
The 2026 prize aims to advance research that can bridge the gaps between subjective encounter narratives, physical evidence, and testable models of reality. IONS invites multidisciplinary proposals that look at the phenomenon with a high degree of intellectual humility, applying sophisticated frameworks from fields such as physics, psychology, cognitive science, data science, anthropology, or the philosophy of science.
Proposals submitted for the 2026 prize should seek to:
- Propose testable hypotheses or models that integrate the physical and consciousness aspects of UAP encounters.
- Outline rigorous research designs to evaluate encounter narratives, case documentation, or physical data using advanced scientific methods.
- Address the broader scientific, philosophical, and cultural implications of UAP research on our understanding of consciousness and reality.
Phase 1 applications—letters of intent—are due by July 22, 2026. Finalists will be invited to submit full proposals, due by September 7, 2026, and the winner will be announced between October 23–25, 2026. The prize is open to individual researchers and multidisciplinary teams, with principal investigators required to have relevant scientific or academic qualifications.
Noetic sciences is a multidisciplinary field that combines objective science with subjective experience to explore the nature of consciousness, reality, and human potential. Since its founding over 50 years ago, IONS has been a pioneering force at the frontier of science, dedicated to understanding how consciousness interacts with the physical world.
To learn more about the prize and how to apply, visit noetic.org/prize.
