Atypical Expertise and the Study of UAP
UAP present a distinctive research challenge: they are ambiguous in nature,
unpredictable in occurrence, and almost always documented after the fact, by people
who had no intention to search for and find them. The most credible reports on record have often come mainly from military personnel, aircraft pilots, and signal specialists—observers whose training and institutional contexts lend their accounts authority. This is valuable, but it has also produced an evidentiary base that is structurally narrow, further thinned by classification regimes, nondisclosure obligations, and the quiet deterrent of
professional embarrassment.
The Sol Foundation’s new Distributed Observation (DO) project, led by Sol Associate Director of Research Dr. Christian Peters, proposes a different approach: recruiting what might be called “atypical observation experts,” people with strong, domain-specific observational skills who operate well outside military or aviation contexts. Birdwatchers, field biologists, geologists, maritime professionals, hunters, anglers, drone operators: these are people who spend copious amounts of time looking carefully at the sky, the horizon, and their surroundings. By identifying, surveying, and integrating these groups into a structured reporting framework (one potentially with known UAP concentration areas) the project aims to broaden and diversify the empirical basis of UAP research.
To learn more and participate, please contact christian.peters@thesolfoundation and check back here for updates and the full project description.