Do you also love the combination of science and humour? Mark 5 September 2027 in your diary, because that’s when the Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded in… Antwerp. ‘Winning an Ig Nobel Prize is on my bucket list, but in the end, helping to organise the ceremony proved more realistic,’ laughs Professor Maarten Weyn, Vice-Rector of Research and Impact at UAntwerp.
First make people laugh, then make them think: that’s the aim of the Ig Nobel Prizes. American mathematician Marc Abrahams created the awards in 1991 as a parody of the Nobel Prizes. Since then, nine scientists have been honoured every year.
The ceremony is always a wonderfully weird affair: audience members throw paper aeroplanes en masse, parts of the show are sung operatically and winners who exceed their allotted speaking time are admonished by an eight-year-old girl. Until recently, the winners received a Zimbabwean 10-trillion-dollar banknote as prize money (not that it was worth more than 50 cents).
Talking point at the coffee machine
And yet the Ig Nobel Prizes are genuinely relevant to the scientific community. ‘At first, the award-winning studies seem utterly ridiculous,’ explains Maarten Weyn, who has been a fan from the outset. ‘But on closer inspection, they turn out to be quite relevant. Physicist André Geim perhaps provided the best example of all. In 2000, he won an Ig Nobel Prize for levitating a live frog using magnets. Ten years later, he won the real Nobel Prize for his research into graphene, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Antwerp.’
The Ig Nobel Prize formula has caught on around the world. Weyn: ‘Everyone can join in a conversation about these studies; they can really become a talking point at the coffee machine. In this way, the Ig Nobel Prizes bring science closer to the public. The awards also send an important message: we must continue to make room for research driven purely by curiosity. If we focused solely on the immediate impact or return on investment of a research project, a great deal of valuable research would never be carried out. Its relevance to society often becomes clear only later.’
‘Everyone can join in a conversation about these studies; they can really become a talking point at the coffee machine. In this way, the Ig Nobel Prizes bring science closer to the public.'
From Zurich to Antwerp
The scientific community is changing rapidly. This is partly due to technological developments, such as the rise of artificial intelligence. But other factors are also at play: ‘We absolutely must cherish the spirit of free inquiry, but it can no longer be taken for granted everywhere. Just look at the United States, for example.’
The situation in the US also has direct consequences for the Ig Nobel Prizes. Until last year, the ceremony was held alternately at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but the organiser decided to move it to Europe. Zurich hosted the ceremony on 3 September 2026; on 5 September 2027, it will be … Antwerp!
The Flemish universities are joining forces with the Flemish government, the Universiteit van Vlaanderen and Nerdland to support the event. ‘Let’s fill the Queen Elisabeth Hall,’ says Maarten Weyn, looking ahead. ‘Winning an Ig Nobel Prize is on my bucket list, but in the end, helping to organise the ceremony proved more realistic.’