The Jagiellonian University’s Comparative Civilization Studies Research Club cordially invites you to the International Academic Conference titled “In the Shadow of the Sky — speculative worlds, xenolinguistic futures, and UFO imagery in postmodern media.”

Date and venue: May 29–30, 2026, at the Institute of Comparative Studies of Civilisations, Jagiellonian University, 52 Grodzka Street, KrakówFormat: hybrid, May 29–30, 2026 

The aim of the conference is to explore issues related to the international phenomenon of Unidentified Flying Objects, commonly referred to as UFOs. We encourage those interested in actively participating in the conference to submit abstracts for presentations (up to 20 minutes) on topics such as:

• UFO worlds in pop culture
• Pleiadians, Greys and other
• UFO images
• alternative reality of extraterrestrial worlds
• ancient narratives about extraterrestrials
• interdimensional travel and the existence of multiverses
• forgotten and lost civilisations in science, related to extraterrestrials
• ideas about extraterrestrial worlds and life on them
• UFOs in scientific and literary theories
• esoteric and occult connections with the perception of extraterrestrials
• visions of aliens in fantasy universes
• extraterrestrial civilizations in pre-modern literature
• xenolinguistics

In addition, we are open to other proposals related to the theme of the event. We cordially invite the following to submit papers: religious studies, culture studies, anthropologists, ethnologists, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, historians, art historians, literary studies, linguists, orientalists and representatives of other humanities and social sciences, interested in broadly understood visions of alternative worlds in their research. We also encourage specialists from other fields and people willing to present reflections from their own experiences in a form consistent with humanistic scientific discourse.

Participation in the event is free of charge and depends on the evaluation of the submitted abstract. Abstracts can be sent until April 30, 2026 to the following address: UFOconferencePoland@gmail.com

We also inform you about the possibility of publishing the best papers in the form of a post-conference monograph. The basis for acceptance will be the quality of the submitted abstract and the novelty of the presented issue.

ABSTRACT REQUIREMENTS: The abstract file (.doc, .docx, .rtf) should be titled according to the scheme "Name, Surname, Title of the paper". In the text of the abstract, please include the purpose/topic of the presentation and its summary. Do NOT include your own data in the file.

An additional advantage of the abstract, taken into account during its consideration, will be the attached bibliography. The text should be saved in Microsoft Word format (.doc/.docx extension). Text length: maximum 2000 characters with spaces (without footnotes and bibliography). Please attach your consent to the processing of personal data!

Participants are requested to fill out the application form: https://forms.office.com/e/G2fBU2Ck4U

Length of the planned presentation: up to 20 minutes. Information about acceptance or rejection of the paper will be sent to all applicants by email.