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Due to the impact of President Trump's crackdown on immigration, the Ig Nobel Prize will, for the first time this year, move its award ceremony from the United States to Switzerland in Europe. The organizing committee announced this decision on Monday (March 9), citing concerns that participants may have difficulty obtaining US visas.
Under the current US immigration policy, the Trump administration focuses on deporting those residing illegally, as well as people holding student and exchange visitor visas.
The 36th Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, organized by the American magazine Annals of Improbable Research, will be held in Zurich, Switzerland. The ceremony is usually held in the US in September, a few weeks before the official announcement of the Nobel Prizes.
Marc Abrahams, the ceremony host and magazine editor, said that over the past year, it has become unsafe for guests to travel to the US, and he cannot, in good conscience, ask new winners or international journalists to go to the US this year.
For the past 35 years, winners have traveled to the US to receive their awards, with previous ceremonies held at Harvard University, MIT, and Boston University. This year's ceremony will be co-hosted with institutions under ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and the University of Zurich.
Abrahams stated, "The awards ceremony will now be held in Zurich every two years. At other times, the ceremony will take place in other European cities. There are currently no plans to move the ceremony back to the US."