Call for Proposals
The 2026 Linda G. O’Bryant Noetic Sciences Research Prize will award a $100,000 grant to one winning applicant or team to implement a scientifically rigorous study of consciousness-associated Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP, over an expected period of approximately one year.
This is not a prize for a completed paper, a theoretical essay, or a general research concept. It is a research grant intended to support the actual design, implementation, analysis, and reporting of a prospective study with an empirical component as key.
The winning proposal should be ready to be carried out. It should identify a clear research question, describe the methods and instrumentation to be used, explain how data will be collected and analyzed, and show that the applicant or team has the skills, infrastructure, and access needed to complete the study during the grant period.
The goal of the Prize is to help move the study of consciousness-associated UAP phenomena beyond anecdotal reports, suggestive imagery, and speculation by supporting work that yields rigorous and novel advancement of the field through applying transparent methods that produce real data, including meaningful empirical deliverables.
Phase 1 Letter of Intent (LOI) due by July 22, 2026
(Max 1,200 words)
Full Proposal Deadline (for selected finalists) is September 7, 2026. Winners will be announced October 23–25, 2026.
Background and Rationale
The 2026 Linda G. O’Bryant Noetic Sciences Research Prize invites bold, scientifically rigorous inquiry into the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP; formerly “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” and “Unidentified Flying Object”) as an emerging phenomenon at the frontiers of science and culture that encompasses both consciousness research and fundamental physics. Recently, especially over the past decade, UAP has moved from cultural fringe to receiving serious governmental and scientific attention, raising unresolved questions about the nature of reality, perception, information, and the foundations of scientific knowledge. While much public discourse has centered on aerospace engineering and national security, a substantial body of encounter narratives and case documentation, as well as intelligence community whistleblower testimony in the official congressional record and now Executive Branch-released disclosure files, suggests significant relevance to humanities’ understanding of the fundamental nature and science of consciousness and the physical world.
Encounter narratives and case documentation include apparent non-verbal or telepathic communication, responsiveness of physical phenomena to human attention or intention, altered states of consciousness, and other elements that suggest the phenomenon, if genuine, may not fit neatly within conventional notions of distinctions between physical events and subjective experience. These reports do not by themselves establish a mechanism, nor are all such features equally well documented, but they raise a frontier scientific question: whether some UAP events may involve as-yet poorly understood relationships among perception, cognition, consciousness, information, and physical manifestation. Investigating that possibility with rigor will help clarify whether and how UAP-related data may bear on broader scientific understanding of consciousness, reality, and human potential.
Rather than presupposing any explanatory framework, this Prize seeks paradigm-expanding work that rigorously examines whether and how UAP-related data might inform, challenge, or advance emerging models of consciousness and impact our understanding of the foundations of physical science.
Building a Scientific Research Program for the Study of Consciousness-Associated UAP Phenomena
This Prize invites proposals to build, implement, and demonstrate a scientifically rigorous research program to study consciousness-associated UAP phenomena by integrating measurement technologies, standardized protocols, a prospective research design, and ontological frameworks. Examples of consciousness-associated UAP phenomena include, but are not limited to CE5 events, psionics, telepathic communications, and consciousness interactive components of materials/vehicles. It does not include taking pictures of UAP or analyzing samples unless they are believed to interface with human consciousness. Applicants are to propose a comprehensive approach that includes the development or refinement of sensitive detection and/or interaction systems, the creation of transparent and reproducible research protocols, and the actual implementation of a prospective study in laboratory and/or field settings. Particular emphasis should be placed on methodological rigor, including instrumentation, data quality, pre-registration, analytical transparency, ontological framework clarity, and the ability to generate tangible empirical deliverables rather than purely conceptual outputs.
Proposals must go beyond describing a plan or conceptual platform and instead present a study that is feasible, implementation-ready, and capable of being carried out during the grant period. The winning team will receive $100,000 to conduct the proposed study, with IONS managing the grant over the course of the study period, likely one year. Grant management will include monthly update reports, including an opportunity for IONS management to advise and iterate on direction, plus a final scientific and financial report. Competitive proposals should therefore demonstrate not only scientific merit and innovation, but also that the applicant team has the skills, experience, infrastructure, and access needed to successfully execute the work. Proposed studies should include a clear implementation plan, concrete milestones, and meaningful empirical deliverables, culminating in a final report and manuscript submission at the end of the grant period that will demonstrably serve as an important original contribution to the field. Of particular interest are instrumented approaches that can generate scientifically useful data on potential relationships between consciousness variables and UAP-related events, including intentional contact or interaction contexts where appropriate, and that help move the field beyond anecdotal reports, suggestive imagery, or prohibitively expensive military-grade systems.
Given the paradigm-challenging nature of the phenomenon, applicants should also consider whether expanded scientific paradigms, new ontological frameworks, or novel methodological frameworks may be needed to study it adequately while still maintaining rigor and disciplined inquiry. In addition, applicants should describe how the results of their proposed work may bear on broader ontological and sociocultural questions raised by the UAP phenomenon, including whether and how such findings might challenge prevailing notions about consciousness, reality, and human adaptation to paradigm-changing knowledge –potential “ontological shock”. Prize funding is intended to support the creation and execution of a robust, implementation-oriented research platform that produces real data, real methods, and a meaningful advance in the scientific study of consciousness-associated UAP phenomena. Selected applicants may also describe how collaboration with IONS could strengthen the implementation, evaluation, or dissemination – the global impact – of the work.
Prize Focus
Applicants are invited to propose a scientifically rigorous, implementation-ready research program to investigate consciousness-associated UAP phenomena.
Examples may include, but are not limited to:
- intentional contact or CE5-style events;
- psionic or consciousness-mediated interactions;
- reported telepathic or non-verbal communication between individuals and purported UAP intelligences or entities;
- possible interactions between human consciousness and UAP-related materials, devices, or events;
- instrumented studies of consciousness variables in UAP-related contexts.
This Prize is not intended to fund ordinary UAP photography, image analysis, or materials analysis unless the proposed work directly addresses a plausible consciousness-related component.
Grant Amount and Grant Period
The Prize will provide $100,000 to one winning proposal.
The grant will be managed by IONS as a research grant over the study period, expected to be approximately one year. Grant management will include monthly progress reports, opportunities for consultation with IONS, a final scientific report, a final financial report, and submission of a manuscript suitable for peer-reviewed publication.
