Parapsychology Foundation International Affiliates Conference

The Parapsychology Foundation is celebrating its 65^th year in operation this year. Dedicated to providing support for students and researchers in the field of scientific and academic parapsychology, the PF decided to launch the Parapsychology Foundation Online Academy on WizIQ with its first online International Affiliates Conference. For unprecedented access to this elite group of scientists and researchers, join us for this conference!

The Parapsychology Foundation International Affiliates program was inaugurated in 2000 and includes 27 extraordinary individuals from 26 different countries around the world. Each of these individuals – such as Professor Chris Roe of the University of Northampton in England and Professor Wellington Zangari of the University of São Paulo in Brazil – conduct research, mentor graduate students, are active researchers, or active professionals with a deep understanding of the subject matter. For this inaugural event, five international affiliates will talk about institutional, educational and research developments in their own countries over the last 40 years. Four additional presentations will be given, opening and closing the conference days, and touching on the importance of the work of the Foundation and its recent move from face-to-face conferences to conferences, events, and courses on the WizIQ platform.

To anyone who has followed the Foundation over the last many decades, who has an interest in the scientific and academic side of parapsychology and psychical research, and a need to know how this work has progressed around the world, this event is for you! No prerequisites or qualifications are required to attend the conference, just your interest and enthusiasm for the topic.

Parapsychology Foundation has long had a handle on the international scene, and from the 1950s through 2005 offered regular conferences all over the world, highlighting the work of the best and the brightest in the field. Combined with The PF’s extraordinary Eileen J. Garrett Library, its publications, scholarships, grants and awards, and the now-under-reconstruction suite of websites, the Foundation’s conference series has always been a beacon for those seeking new and comprehensive information about the field as a whole.

Here are the International Affiliates who will be speaking at the conference:

• Dr. Alejandro Parra, the PF International Affiliate for Argentina, is a clinical psychologist in Buenos Aires, the director of the Instituto de Psicología Paranormal, and a past President of the Parapsychological Association.
• Hideyuki Kokubo, the PF International Affiliate for Japan, is the editor and director of the Journal of the International Society for Life Information, the Journal of the Japanese Society for Parapsychology, and the Journal of Mind-Body Science, as well as the director of the International Research Institute in Chiba, and a researcher at the Bio-Emission Laboratory of Meiji University.
• Dr. Chris Roe, the PF International Affiliate for England, is Professor of Research at the University of Nottingham and the Director of its Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, past and current President of the Parapsychological Association, and the editor of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research.
• Dr. Mario Varvoglis is the PF International Affiliate for France, the Director of the Institut Métapsychique International in Paris, a Past-President of the Parapsychological Association and the author of La Rationalité de l’Irrationnel, an analysis of contemporary psi research and its social and theoretical implications.
• Dr. Wellington Zangari and Dr. Fátima Regina Machado are joint PF International Affiliates for Brazil. Dr. Zangari is Professor of the Social Psychology of Religion at the University of São Paulo, Dr. Machado is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology at the Pontifical Catholic University also in São Paulo, and both are founders of Interpsi: Laboratory of Anomalistic Psychology and Psychosocial Processes at the University of São Paulo.

In addition, Lisette Coly, the President of the Parapsychology Foundation, and PF Research Fellows Dr. Carlos S. Alvarado and Dr. Nancy L. Zingrone will conduct the opening and closing sessions for the conference, focusing on the breadth of the PF International Affiliate program, its goals and accomplishments, and, in the closing session, on such upcoming activities as the Parapsychology Foundation Online Academy that will debut later in the spring of 2016 on WizIQ.

Individuals who attend or view all the lectures and take part in discussions will come away from the conference with a good understanding of the breadth of the field geographically as well as the various individuals, methodologies and findings that have come and gone and are still in operation in the countries that will be covered. Individuals who attend will also become familiar with the Foundation’s work supporting researchers and students in a wide variety of countries. Because of the question and answer period after each lecture and the discussion forum available on the conference’s main page, attendees will also have the opportunity to meet and talk with others from around the world who share their interests and experiences.

Although the course does not prepare attendees for any certification or exam, it will provide a unique look into the scientific study of psychic phenomena, experience and belief around the world.