Due to the immigration policies enforced by US President Trump's administration, the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony will, for the first time, be moved from the United States to Switzerland this year. The organizers announced this decision on Monday (March 9), citing concerns that attendees might have difficulty obtaining US visas.
Under the current US immigration policies, the Trump administration has focused on deporting undocumented immigrants, as well as those holding student and exchange visitor visas.
The 36th Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, organized by the US-based Annals of Improbable Research magazine, will be held in Zurich, Switzerland. The ceremony usually takes place in the US in September, a few weeks before the official Nobel Prize announcement.
Marc Abrahams, editor of the magazine and host of the ceremony, said that over the past year it has become unsafe for guests to travel to the US, and that he could not in good conscience ask new winners or international journalists to come to America this year.
For the past 35 years, award recipients have traveled to the US to collect their prizes, with previous ceremonies held at Harvard University, MIT, and Boston University. This year's ceremony will be co-hosted with institutions under ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich.
Abrahams stated, "The prize ceremony will be held in Zurich every two years. At other times, the ceremony will move to other European cities. There are currently no plans to move the ceremony back to the United States."