Early this morning I finished uploading the Closing Session of the New Faces in Parapsychology PF International Affiliates Conference on YouTube. As you know from reading the PF News over the last few months, Anna Damalas, administrative staff member, PF Research Associate Gonçalo Veiga, and I have alternated in preparing and uploading videos to the PF YouTube Channel. We each have a different set of new and old videos on which we’re working, and for some time now I’ve been working on the PF International Affiliates Conference that took place on January 29th, 2017 during the Parapsychology Research and Education course.
New Faces in Parapsychology, January 29th, 2017
Our first online PF International Affiliates Conference was held in January of 2016 and like other PF online forums and events took place on the social medial teaching platform, WizIQ.com, within the PF Lyceum Academy (more about the first conference later in this blog). About this time last year, when we were planning the second PF International Affiliates conference for January of 2017, Lisette Coly, the PF President, PF Research Fellow Dr. Carlos S. Alvarado, and I had been talking about how well placed the Affiliates — 27 individuals who represent 26 countries including the USA (more about the program can be found here) — were to identify the best of the next generation of researchers and scholars with an interest in the scientific study of psychic phenomena. So Carlos set about contacting the Affiliates to recommend “new faces” for the then upcoming conference.
Young researchers and scholars are a busy lot but we were able to schedule Ana Flores, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, Csongor Matyi, a young college instructor and counselor in Hungary, and Gabriel Teixeira de Medeiros, a doctoral student at the University of São Paulo (USP). Flores was nominated by Professor Caroline Watt, the PF International Affiliate for Scotland. Matyi was nominated by Dr. Zoltán Vassy, who represents Hungary for the PF, and Teixeira de Medeiros was nominated by Professor Wellington Zangari and Dr. Fátima Regina Machado who jointly represent Brazil.
Conference Presentations Now Available on YouTube …
As of yesterday the conference is now completely up on YouTube. The Opening Session is available here,
The first video of the conference documents Ana Flores’ innovative experiment that contributes to a consortium of pan-European university-based researchers who are working to test the theoretical underpinnings of the field. Her work is also part of her doctoral research at Edinburgh (the link is here).
The second video documents Csongor Matyi’s review of his autoganzfeld research that was conducted to fulfill the requirements of his master’s degree some years back. Now teaching the history and research methods of parapsychology at Eötvös Loránd University, Matyi is currently developing a new research program there (the link is here.)
Gabriel Teixeira de Medeiros’ presentation in the third conference video provides an overview of out-of-body research and a questionnaire study he developed and conducted as a partial fulfillment for his graduate program at Sáo Paulo (the link is here)
These three videos are following by the Closing Session that included closing comments by Lisette Coly, a general discussion for attendees of the day’s events and news about PF’s then upcoming activities (the video can be found at this link).
But that’s not all that is available in the PF International Affiliates Conferences playlist on the PF YouTube channel.
PF International Affiliates Conference, January 23rd-24th, 2016
The first PF International Affiliates Conference asked for volunteers among the affiliates to do a review of the history of the scientific study of psychic phenomena in their own home countries. Scheduled over two days, five countries were represented by their Affiliates.
Among the videos from the first conference available in the playlist are the seven presentations I’ll mention here, the day one Opening Session, and the day two Closing Session on day two, and five geographically-focused presentations.
Dr. Alejandro Parra reviewed the field in Argentina (the link to the YouTube video is here) focusing largely on the work of the Instituto de Psicología Paranormal in Buenos Aires,
Hideyuki Kokubo discussed research in Japan from the 1970s forward although he did take a chronological detour to the an important researcher in the late 19th and early 20th centuries forward (the link is here),
Professor Chris Roe (University of Northampton) both narrowed and expanded his remit by reviewing the growth of the field in the UK as a whole since the appointment of Professor Robert L. Morris (1942-2004) to the first Koestler Professorship of Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh (the link is here).
Professor Wellington Zangari and Dr. Fátima Regina Machado co-presented on the research and scholarhip in Brazil with a special focus on the work being conducted by the graduate students and recent doctorates connected with InterPsi, a research unit at USP (the link is here).
And last but not least, Dr. Mario Varvoglis summarized fifty years of research in France with an emphasis on the work of the Institut Mètapsychique International in Paris (the link is here).
In addition the Opening Session on the 23rd that included Lisette, Carlos,and I talking about the philosophy of the PF Affiliates program, and the event ahead is available here and the Closing Session on January 24th, with a general discussion and news about PF’s 2016 activities, is available here.
And While We’re Waiting for the 2018 PF International Affiliates Event …
Planning is underway for the 2018 event that will take place during the 2018 Parapsychology Research and Education course. Until the details are available, we suggest that you head over to YouTube to watch the 2017 conference, and if you haven’t seen it yet, the 2016 conference as well. While you’re over on YouTube watching the latest video available, please don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already. It’s also a good idea to hit the notification bell so you don’t miss our latest videos. And, if you feel the urge to binge watch the latest conference, you can alway just click “Play All” on the link to the PF International Affiliates Playlist and have at it!