Ig Nobel Prizes Move to Zurich Amid U.S. Immigration Concerns

In September 2026 the 36th Ig Nobel ceremony was held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, the first time the satirical awards left the United States after 35 years. Ten research teams received honors across categories such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Economics, Biomechanics, Soil Science, and Technology. Winners presented their work in person, which organizers said is essential to the ceremony’s “laugh-first, think-later” spirit.

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The Ig Nobels, organized by *Annals of Improbable Research*, were launched in 1991 at MIT and have alternated among MIT, Harvard and Boston University. Over the past year, U.S. immigration policy tightened visa and entry procedures for foreign scholars. Organizers reported that several international laureates declined to travel to the United States, prompting the relocation to Zurich for logistical safety and visa-access reasons.

Boston Globe

• Marc Abrahams – founder and master of ceremonies.

Boston Globe

• Mirko Bischofberger – organizer of the Zurich ceremony.

SWI - Swissinfo.ch

• Matilda Brindle – evolutionary biologist, co-author of the kissing-behavior study.

CNN

• João Miguel Alves-Nunes – lead researcher on the venomous-snake study.

2026 Ig Nobel Prizes

• Leonard M. G. Chavas – co-lead on the cockroach-milk chemistry prize.

2026 Ig Nobel Prizes

• Jianyu Li and Changhong Cao – McGill team awarded the Technology prize for “necroprinting” mosquito proboscises.

2026 Ig Nobel Prizes

• Chemistry prize: cockroach-milk proteins contain three times the energy of cow-milk proteins.

A First Outside the U.S.: Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded in Zurich

• Physics prize: splash-free urinal design projected to prevent 1 million L of urine splashing daily if installed in the 56 million non-residential urinals in the United States.

A First Outside the U.S.: Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded in Zurich

• Soil-science prize: buried 1,000 pairs of underpants in more than 25 countries to gauge cotton decomposition.

2026 Ig Nobel Prizes

• Biology prize: tested 116 *Bothrops jararaca* pit vipers, finding younger snakes bite more often in warm daytime conditions.

2026 Ig Nobel Prizes

• Economics prize highlighted a correlation between higher social class and increased unethical behavior, such as cutting off traffic at intersections.

CNN

Mirko Bischofberger said, “the laureates travel from all over the world. With the current policy in the US, it has become more difficult to ensure that everyone can actually enter the country.” Marc Abrahams warned that without a safe location many laureates would forgo in-person attendance.

SWI - Swissinfo.ch

Moving the ceremony shows how immigration policy can affect international research collaboration and the visibility of unconventional science. Organizers intend to host future Ig Nobel events in alternating European cities, beginning with Antwerp in 2027, signaling a long-term departure from a U.S.-centric format.

Buried undies, nose-blowing studies win Ig Nobel prizes

• “The laureates travel from all over the world. With the current policy in the US, it has become more difficult to ensure that everyone can actually enter the country,” — Mirko Bischofberger

SWI - Swissinfo.ch

• “The situation here has been getting worse all the time,” — Marc Abrahams

Boston Globe

• “Of course, applied research is vital, but it would be a grave loss if we stopped looking at the world around us and asking ‘why?’. Curiosity for its own sake is fundamental to how science moves forward,” — Matilda Brindle

CNN