C-FAR History

C-FAR was formally launched on 1 January 2000 with the establishment of this website. The Centre was the culmination of ideas that had grown out of the founders' involvement with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Indeed, C-FAR has strong links to the SPR, and the press release announcing the formation appeared in the Society's magazine The Paranormal Review.

The two founders, David Rousseau and Julie Rousseau, are scientists turned I.T. professionals with long standing interests in a number of cross-disciplinary research fields.

The seeds of C-FAR's research strategy can be seen in an edited version of an early paper prepared by David Rousseau for the Research Activities Committee of the SPR, Towards a Pragmatic Strategy for Advancing Parapsychological Research. Over time, this early vision broadened in scope and shifted focus towards the philosophy of science approach advocated by C-FAR today. Nonetheless, one aspect of C-FAR's research interest involves anomalies that significantly challenge our world-view, and of these, parapsychological anomalies form a major part.

There is an informal discussion of C-FAR's aims in the article Why C-FAR? by Julie Rousseau.