Upcoming Events

—> All scheduled people-gathering-in-a-physical-location events are of course subject to what happens with the COVID-19 pandemic. We will update details here as soon as we know them.

September 8, 2023, Friday. Quark Matter Conference, Houston, Texas, USAMarc Abrahams will give the banquet talk, about Improbable Research and the Ig Nobel Prizes.
September 14, 2023, Thursday, 6:00 pm (US eastern time). The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, online — Ten new prizes will be awarded for achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. (This year’s ceremony will happen entirely as a webcast) Details TBA.
September 29, 2023, Friday, 9:00 pm. “Ig Nobel at School”, Auditorium Santa Cecilia, Perugia, Italy — This event will be also be livestreamed as part of the online marathon of Sharper — European Researchers’ Night. Related events are happening in Cagliari, Catania, L’Aquila, Macerata, and Pavia.
September 29, 2023, Friday. Two events —one at 5:00 pm, the other at 7:00 pm.

Improbable Dramatic Readings“, Cambridge Science Festival, MIT Welcome Center, 292 Main Street, Building E38 (next to the MBTA station and the new MIT Museum), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA — Luminaries (of various wattage) each do brief dramatic readings from seemingly absurd, genuine research studies and patents. Some of those studies and patents have won Ig Nobel Prizes. All of them make people laugh, then think. There will be two events, each with different dramatic readers and dramatic readings. Robin Abrahams will emcee both shows.

TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS (separate admission for each show) are free, available from the Cambridge Science Festival.

5 PM SHOW  — PERFORMERS: Karen Hopkin / Chris Hopkin / Jenn Bulger James / Gary Dryfoos / Louise Sacco / Dany Adams / Joe Madsen / Celina Moore Barton / Eric Jung / Bryan Man / and maybe others

7 PM SHOW — PERFORMERS: Debbie Douglas / Martha Eddison / Fatima Husain / Christina Symons / Elly Berke / Cadence Payne / Deborah Blum / Sara Dion / and maybe others

November 4, 2023, Saturday. Berlin Science Festival, Germany — Details TBA.
November 11, 2023, Saturday evening.

Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, The MIT Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA — The new Ig Nobel Prize winners and other researchers will ask each other questions about their work. [NOTE: This event will not be livestreamed]. Featuring:

  • 2023 Literature Prize winners Chris Moulin and Akira O’Connor
  • 2023 Mechanical Engineering Prize winners Te Faye Yap, Zhen Liu, Anoop Rajappan, Trevor Shimokusu, and Daniel Preston
  • 2023 Public Health Prize winner Seung-min Park
  • 2023 Communication Prize winner Adolfo García
  • 2023 Medicine Prize winners Christine Pham and Natasha Mesinkovska
  • 2023 Nutrition Prize winner Homei Miyashita
  • 2023 Education Prize winners Katy Tam and Christian Chan
  • 2023 Physics Prize winners Bieito Fernández Castro and Miguel Gilcoto
  • Conversants Dany Adams, Melissa Franklin, Karen Hopkin, Eric Maskin, and maybe others

TICKETS will go on sale soon at the Museum web site.

November 18, 2023, Saturday, 2:00 pm.

Ig Nobel Show, Imperial College London, UK, in the Great Hall, in the Sherfield building, Exhibition Road, London — Marc Abrahams and several Ig Nobel Prize winners will talk about the prizes, and answer questions. Featuring:

  • 2023 Physics Prize winners Bieito Fernández Castro, Marian Peña, Enrique Nogueira, Miguel Gilcoto, Esperanza Broullón, Antonio Comesaña, Damien Bouffard, Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, and Beatriz Mouriño-Carballido — measuring the extent to which ocean-water mixing is affected by the sexual activity of anchovies
  • 2014 Ig Nobel Psychology Prize winner Minna Lyons and colleague Gayle Brewer  — a newer study: Referee Height Influences Decision Making in British Football Leagues
  • 2023 Education Prize winner Wijnand van Tilburg — methodically studying the boredom of teachers and students
  • 2023 Chemistry & Geology Prize winner Jan Zalasiewicz — explaining why many scientists like to lick rocks
  • and perhaps some others

TICKETS: This is the first half of a special double-event day, together with BAHFest London. (The Ig Nobel event begins at 2:00 pm. BAHFest begins at 5:00 pm). TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS are on sale; there is the option to purchase tickets for both events, or for  just one.]

[Date TBA] Ig Nobel Face-to-Face, Miraikan, Tokyo, Japan — Several Ig Nobel Prize winners, some current, some from past years, will ask each other questions about their work. Details TBA.
January 2024, [exact date TBA]. Arisia, Boston, Massachusetts, USA — Details TBA.
February 17 2024, Saturday evening. AAAS Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, USA — Details TBA.
April 4, 2024, Tuesday. University of Aarhus, Denmark — Details TBA.

Subscribe to the Ig Events mailing list

And a list of some PAST EVENTS. 

Would you like to host an event? Please get in touch with marc attttt improbable dottttttt com