Being interested in UFOs used to be considered dubious. Something for fanatics and dreamers. But in recent years this has changed.
“It’s interesting that it has gone from being underground and poorly regarded to today being something that books are written about that are published by Oxford University Press,” says Professor Henrik Nordvall at the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning at LiU.
UFOs from many perspectives
In 2022, NASA appointed a research team to investigate UFO events, now known as UAP – Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Serious media are concerned with the subject, as are researchers at prominent universities. UFOs have also long been an integral part of popular culture.
This gave Henrik Nordvall and his colleagues the idea for the new course that will address the subject from different perspectives: educational science, psychology, religion, and cultural and natural sciences. For, whatever lies behind it, no one can deny that people sometimes experience things that lack an immediate explanation – and that this can be viewed from many scientific points of view.
“I think it would be almost irresponsible to ignore the great interest that surrounds the UFO theme,” says Henrik Nordvall.
Foreign and domestic researchers
Several prominent researchers and experts have been invited to give lectures, among them astronomer Marie Rådbo, who is also an honorary doctor at LiU. She will talk about the subject of astrobiology. Another lecturer is astronomer Avi Loeb from Harvard University in the United States. He leads the Galileo Project, which is looking for possible traces of extraterrestrial technology that may have fallen to Earth as meteorites.
“It’s not just about school stimulating critical thinking, but also helping students to orient themselves around what’s credible and what isn’t,” says Henrik Nordvall.
For teachers – and everyone else
The course will be held remotely, but two study visits will be offered in Norrköping. For many years, it has been home to the world’s largest UFO archive, now renamed Archives for the Unexplained. Chairperson and journalist Clas Svahn will conduct a tour and also hold a lecture. Another study visit will be at Arbetets museum (Museum of Work) where there is an exhibition about the UFO phenomenon.
The course has 40 places and Henrik Nordvall hopes that the applicants will include teachers, but also those who may not usually study at university. The ambition is to be educational for the public.
“If you drive a lorry in Dalarna or work as a nurse in Piteå during the day, you should still be able to combine it with an evening lecture,” he says.
At the same time, he is aware that the course may receive criticism.
“If you think that university education should only be linked to a specific job and employability, then you may have reservations. But if someone thinks this is a course that departs from the scientific, it’s important to know that this is not the case.”
Translation: Simon Phillips
