Charles-Maxence Layet

Background & Career

Charles-Maxence Layet (born April 1, 1971) is a French science and technology journalist, author, and academic researcher trained in sociology. Beginning his career in the late 1990s as an editor at the video game website gamelog.fr, Layet quickly pivoted toward investigative science journalism, contributing to the French magazine Casus Belli and consulting for France Télécom on technology and communication issues. Over three decades, he has established himself as a generalist investigator at the intersection of science, consciousness, innovation, and environmental protection.

From approximately 2009 to 2024, Layet served as a parliamentary assistant to MEP (Member of European Parliament) Michèle Rivasi, a prominent Green Party environmentalist. During this period, he co-authored initiatives on electromagnetic radiation effects, public health, and technological risks—including debates on 5G implementation and digital screen impacts on children. This parliamentary role gave him direct access to European institutional frameworks for discussing emerging scientific and public health concerns.

UFO/UAP Research & Publications

Layet's formal entry into UFO research was marked by his 2012 founding of Orbs, l'autre Planète (Orbs, the Other Planet), a scientific journal dedicated to arts, sciences, and the UFO phenomenon. Operating as both editor-in-chief and contributing writer, Layet positioned the publication as a rigorous platform for investigating UFO phenomena through journalism, ethnological methods, and scientific inquiry—rather than purely speculative or sensationalist approaches.

His most significant contribution to disclosure-era literature came with the March 20, 2025 publication of Le Printemps des OVNIS: L'Hypothèse extraterrestre, les faits, le mythe (The Spring of UFOs: The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis, Facts, and Myth), released by First Éditions. This comprehensive 400+ page investigation represents Layet's synthesis of over a decade's research across France and the United States. The work combines:

• Journalistic investigation of documented UFO incidents
• Scientific exploration of instrumental and witness evidence
• Interviews with researchers, contactees, and witnesses
• Analysis of crop circles and physical trace cases
• Discussion of the Pentagon's classified UAP programs (particularly referencing AATIP and subsequent disclosures)
• Ethnological examination of how the UFO phenomenon shapes contemporary imagination and social/political discourse

The book represents one of the most substantial European-language contributions to UFO studies published in the disclosure era (2017–present), bridging Anglo-American ufology with European scientific perspectives.

International Coordination & European Leadership

On March 20, 2025, Layet orchestrated an unprecedented European initiative titled "European UAP Day." His article "European Strategic Autonomy and the Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena" was simultaneously published in 11 different languages on the websites of 14 national UFO organizations across Europe, coordinating ufological discourse at a continental scale. This effort positioned the European UFO research community as an independent voice in the global disclosure conversation, distinct from U.S.-centric narratives.

Layet became a contributing author to the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and the Italian UFO research center (CISU), integrating European scholarship into international academic networks. His media presence expanded dramatically in 2025, with appearances on French television, radio documentaries, and YouTube channels discussing electromagnetic phenomena, UAP, and the implications of potential non-human intelligence.

Research Focus & Scholarly Perspective

Layet's investigative approach emphasizes the social, media, and political dimensions of the UAP phenomenon rather than purely technological or extraterrestrial claims. His work reflects an ethnological and sociological lens: understanding how societies, institutions, and media respond to evidence of potentially anomalous phenomena. This perspective differentiates him from military/technical investigators (e.g., Elizondo, Grusch) and appeals particularly to European audiences accustomed to critical social theory.

His decades-long specialization in electromagnetic fields, environmental health, and technological risk has informed his UAP work—particularly investigations into electromagnetic effects reported during UAP encounters and potential links between EMF phenomena and anomalous observations. This positions him within a smaller cohort of researchers examining electromagnetic hypotheses alongside extraterrestrial and interdimensional models.

Layet represents the emerging European face of serious UAP scholarship: academically rigorous, institutionally credentialed (via parliamentary and CUFOS connections), methodologically pluralistic, and committed to bridging scientific skepticism with openness to anomalous evidence.