Ig Nobel Awards Relocate to Europe Over US Visa Concerns
Organisers of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes, the satirical awards honouring quirky scientific achievements, have announced a historic relocation from the United States to Europe. This unprecedented move, confirmed on Monday, is driven by mounting concerns over the ability of winners and international attendees to secure US travel visas.
Ceremony Shifts to Zurich Amid Immigration Policy Fears
The 36th annual ceremony, traditionally held in the US in September shortly before the official Nobel Prize announcements, will now take place in Zurich, Switzerland. It is organised by the Annals of Improbable Research, a digital publication dedicated to research that "first makes people laugh, and then think". Marc Abrahams, the master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, stated in an email interview with The Associated Press that the decision was made due to safety concerns for guests travelling to the United States.
"We cannot in good conscience ask the new winners, or the international journalists who cover the event, to travel to the USA this year," Abrahams explained. "During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country." This shift occurs against the backdrop of President Donald Trump's extensive immigration crackdown, which has focused on deporting undocumented migrants and tightened regulations on student and visitor exchange visas.
A Legacy of Laughter and Scientific Curiosity
For the past 35 years, Ig Nobel laureates have travelled to the United States to receive their prizes, a tradition that includes being showered with paper airplanes during the ceremony. Past winners have included a Japanese team researching whether painting cows with zebra-like stripes deters flies, and a group from Africa and Europe investigating pizza preferences in lizards.
Last year's winners, honoured across ten categories, also featured a European study suggesting alcohol can sometimes enhance foreign language speaking abilities, and a researcher who dedicated decades to studying fingernail growth. Notably, four of the ten 2025 winners opted not to travel to Boston for the ceremony, which has previously been hosted at prestigious institutions like Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston University.
Swiss Collaboration and Future Plans
This year's event will be produced in partnership with institutions from the ETH Domain, part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Zurich. Abrahams praised Switzerland's history of fostering innovation, citing Albert Einstein's physics and the cuckoo clock as examples, and noted the country is "again helping the world appreciate improbable people and ideas."
Milo Puhan, an epidemiologist at the University of Zurich and a 2017 Swiss Ig Nobel winner for research linking didgeridoo playing to reduced snoring and sleep apnea, welcomed the move. "The Ig Nobel Prize makes research visible, and does so with a wink," Puhan remarked.
Looking ahead, Abrahams confirmed the ceremony will be held in Zurich every other year, with other European cities hosting in the interim. There are currently no immediate plans to return the awards to the United States, marking a significant change for this beloved celebration of scientific humour and curiosity.
