22 February 2010

Ig Nobel awards come to Dundee

The Ig Nobel Awards Show is coming to Dundee for the first time, giving the city a taste of an awards ceremony like no other.

The Ig Nobel Awards honour achievements that will make you laugh, but also make you think, all taken from the world of academic and scientific research. On the night award winners will explain:

• how your underwear could save you from certain death
• why you should always keep a look out for flirtatious ostriches
• how to avoid problems when using the word 'The'
• who invented and wore the World’s first false nose
• what is the best way to avoid sword-swallowing injuries from the author of the penetrating medical report 'Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects.'

Marc Abrahams, organiser of the Ig Nobel Prizes and columnist for The Guardian, will also review the past year's improbable research at the event, which takes place at the University of Dundee on Saturday March 13th.

'I am thrilled that we have been able to bring the Ig Nobel Awards Show to Dundee for the first time,' said Dr Jon Urch, Public Outreach Co-ordinator in the Revealing Research unit at the University.

'The Ig Nobel awards are a worldwide phenomenon, spreading the message that research can be funny, enlightening and but most importantly open to everyone. We have six fantastic speakers taking part and it promises to be a rip-roaring evening filled with life-saving inventions and death-defying acts.'

The event is open to the public and tickets are free. Demand for the event is expected to be very high with considerable interest having already been shown, so people are urged to get their tickets quickly.

The show may not be suitable for primary-age children. Overflow theatres - using a live video link to the main auditorium - may be in use to accommodate the wide interest in the event.

The Ig Nobel Awards show takes place in the Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, University of Dundee, at 6pm, Saturday 13th March

Free tickets are available from www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets (under the heading 'Other Free Lectures'), Tower Building and Dalhousie Building Receptions, by telephone on 01382 386669 or revealingresearch@dundee.ac.uk.

For more information about this event, please contact Jon Urch on 01382 386669 or email j.urch@dundee.ac.uk.

The event will also be streamed live to an audience at the University of Aberdeen’s King’s Conference Centre.

Tickets for the live streaming - which is also free to attend - are available by contacting Jill Burnett on 01224 273874 or by emailing events@abdn.ac.uk.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative -- and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.

'Last, but not least, there are the Ig Nobel awards. These come with little cash, but much cachet, and reward those research projects that 'first make people laugh, and then make them think'' - Nature

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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