Entertainment10 March, 20262 min read
United States Visa Concerns Force Ig Nobels to Move Ceremony to Zurich
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Organizers moved ceremony because US visa difficulties and safety concerns deter international attendees. The 36th edition will take place in Zurich, Switzerland, instead of the United States.
Why they moved
Organizers of the annual Ig Nobels announced the awards will move from the United States to Europe for the first time, citing concerns about winners and others being able to obtain visas and attend the ceremony. The 36th annual ceremony is set to be held in Zurich after Marc Abrahams, the event’s master of ceremonies and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, said “During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country.” The decision was framed as a response to travel barriers that could affect new winners and international journalists who cover the event.
“‘During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country,’ said Marc Abrahams, the master of ceremonies. He explained that both new winners and international journalists faced significant barriers to travel to the U.S. this year.”
Event timing and history
The move will make Zurich the host of the 36th Ig Nobel ceremony, a shift from the event’s long-standing pattern of U.S. venues. The awards are traditionally staged in September a few weeks before the Nobel Prizes and “Winners have for the past 35 years traveled to the United States to collect their prizes.” Organizers noted that in the previous year several winners declined to travel to Boston, underscoring the practical impact of travel and visa restrictions on participation.
Policy context cited
Organizers and multiple reports linked the venue change to the broader U.S. immigration environment under President Donald Trump, saying the decision comes “amid President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration.”
“The move comes amid President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration, in which he has focused on deporting migrants illegally in the United States, as well as holders of student and visitor exchange visas.”
Coverage across outlets described that crackdown as targeting undocumented migrants and holders of student and visitor exchange visas, creating an environment that the Ig Nobel organizers judged unsafe or impractical for international participants.
Swiss collaboration and schedule
Organizers said the Zurich ceremony will be produced in collaboration with Swiss academic institutions, and that Zurich will host the event every other year while other European cities will host in between.
The 2026 ceremony is being produced with “institutions of the ETH Domain, a domain of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Zurich,” and Abrahams said the itinerary will alternate between Zurich and other European locations.
Reactions and winners
Participants and past winners responded with a mix of regret and welcome: the ceremony’s move was noted alongside profiles of last year’s quirky winners — research on painting cows with zebra-like stripes, pizza preferences of lizards, alcohol improving foreign-language speaking, and fingernail growth studies. A Swiss past winner, Milo Puhan, welcomed the relocation, saying “The Ig Nobel Prize makes research visible, and does so with a wink.” Organizers emphasized the awards’ long history of blending humour with unexpected scientific insight even as logistical barriers forced the venue change.
“Last year, winners included a team of researchers from Japan studying whether painting cows with zebra-like stripes would prevent flies from biting them.”