This is your invitation to join the
‍
Unruly Ig Nobel Watch Party

The 2026 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony is almost here, and the best way to enjoy it is with others.
‍
This year there is a special Telegram chat you can join as you watch the ceremony unfold in all its glory.
‍
Join the Unruly Ig Nobel Watch Party


This year’s Ig ceremony will happen on Thursday, September 3, 2026, 7:00 pm (CET),
at Kongresshaus Zürich, Claridenstrasse 5, Zürich, Switzerland.
As always, the ceremony will also be livestreamed for free for all to enjoy!

Find all details below or jump to the FAQs.
Poster for the 36th Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony watch party on 3 September 2026, 6:30 PM, live from Zurich.
The above image is property of Improbable Research and used here for theft/representation purposes.
Thursday, 3 September 2026
7:00 pm, Zurich time
Free
Online, wherever you are
The 2026 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony is happening in Zurich, and I am doing the next-best thing to physically being there:
watching it on the internet with other people who also enjoy science becoming briefly, magnificently strange.
The official ceremony will be livestreamed online and will introduce ten new Ig Nobel Prize winners.
You can watch the livestream right here, on the official Ig Nobel Prizes website, or on Youtube.

But wait, there's more!


‍
‍So what is this Unruly Ig Nobel Watch Party?‍

Very simple. The livestream plays here.
At the same time, anyone who wants company can join this Telegram group chat and react to the ceremony together.
Laugh. Ask questions. Look up the winning studies. Explain something you happen to know.
Admit you understand absolutely nothing.
Discover that another person has independently become deeply invested in the aerodynamics of rhinoceroses.
Or say nothing at all. Nobody will ask you to turn your camera on.
There is no attendance. There will be no test afterwards, but there may be a fun quiz with a prize!

I made it because watching the Ig Nobels alone is fun.
Watching them with other people who keep typing, WAIT, THEY STUDIED WHAT?
‍‍
How the Telegram group works.‍

Telegram is an online messaging service that you can join for free.
The privacy settings on Telegram let you hide your phone number and be represented by a display name.


A group chat on Telegram lets us gather thoughts and conversations into Topics,
which means we don't have to conduct every possible conversation in one enormous scrolling wall of messages.

When you join the group chat, you'll see these topics on the left:
‍
Introduce you!
‍The optional hello corner.
Tell us your name, where you're watching from, how you discovered the Ig Nobels,
your favourite past winner, or whatever else seems relevant.
Or don't. You are not required to introduce yourself before being permitted access to the improbable.
‍
Winners of 2026 Igs
‍This is the main live thread during the ceremony.
As each prize is announced, come here to react, discuss the research, share useful links and
collectively wonder what chain of events led a group of trained professionals to investigate the thing currently on screen.

General
Everything else. Pre-show chatter. Questions. Technical trouble. Ig Nobel history. Tangents. Post-show thoughts.
Mild existential crises about the nature of scientific importance.
If you're unsure where something belongs, General is fine.

You absolutely do not have to join Telegram to watch the livestream by yourself or with friends and family.
‍
You also do not have to say anything if you do join Telegram.
‍
Quietly lurking while ten improbable pieces of research unfold before you is a perfectly respectable evening activity.
‍‍
A few extremely basic rules.‍
Be kind and decent to the other humans.
Do not privately message anyone in the group unless you have been given explicit permission.
Disagreement is fine. Cruelty, harassment, bigotry and personal attacks aren't.
Don't spam the group or repeatedly promote unrelated things.
Don't share someone else's private information.
Remember that laughing at an unusual piece of research is not the same thing as laughing at the researchers or the people, cultures, medical conditions or communities involved.
Resist converting one surprising scientific study into universal medical, political or dietary advice before the winners have even left the stage.
The chat admins may remove messages or people when necessary to keep the chat civil.
‍
Frequently Asked Questions.‍
  1. Where can I watch the livestream for the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, to be held on Thursday evening, September 3, 2026?
    You can watch the same livestream of the event on this webpage, the official webpage of the Ig Nobel Prizes, or their official Youtube channel. You can expect the livestreams to begin close to the event start time.
  2. Wait. What are the Ig Nobel Prizes?
    The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. That can mean research into questions that sound ridiculous until somebody actually investigates them. Why don't woodpeckers get headaches? Why are banana peels so slippery? Can roller coasters help move kidney stones? What happens when scientists put a fish into a brain scanner? The point is that the world is strange, human curiosity is stranger, and sometimes an apparently ridiculous question opens a door into something genuinely interesting. The ceremony itself embraces this spirit enthusiastically.
  3. What's happening on Telegram? If I join Telegram, do I have to participate?
    I have created a group chat on Telegram for us to share thoughts and commentary while we watch the livestream from the comfort of our homes. You can join the chat just to lurk and read.
  4. Do I need to know anything about science?
    Absolutely not. If something isn't clear, ask. There is a very good chance several other people were wondering the same thing and were hoping somebody else would volunteer.
  5. Is this group chat an official Ig Nobel event?
    No. This is an unofficial, independently organised watch party made by an Ig Nobel enthusiast. It is not run by or affiliated with Improbable Research or the Ig Nobel Prize organisers. The ceremony and livestream themselves are theirs. We are simply gathering around the internet to enjoy them. (Marc Abrahams, the founder of the Prizes and Master of Ceremonies, is aware of this group chat and welcomes you all to the ceremony!)
  6. Why are you doing this?
    I love the Ig Nobel Prizes. I have spent an unreasonable amount of time reading the research behind them, talking to scientists and thinking about why supposedly ridiculous questions can be unexpectedly beautiful. Eventually this became an entire book. An online watch party seemed much easier.
  7. Can I invite somebody?
    Please do. Especially somebody who says they “aren't really a science person.” Those are excellent candidates.
  8. Who are you?
    I'm Upasana Sarraju, or Sana for short, a writer and science enthusiast, and the author of UNRULY: The Ig Nobel Prizes and the Science That Refuses to Behave, published by Penugin Random House. The book grew out of my fascination with science that sounds absurd on first encounter and becomes harder to dismiss the longer you look at it: strange experiments, overlooked questions, obsessive researchers and the wonderfully thin boundary between nonsense and insight. The Ig Nobels have been one of my favourite ways into that world. This watch party is not a book launch, seminar, networking opportunity or elaborate attempt to gather your email address. I just thought it would be fun! You can buy my book internationally here.