The 2025 Ig Nobel Prize in Engineering Design was awarded to two Indian researchers for a scientific inquiry that began with an ordinary yet universal annoyance: foul smelling shoes. Vikash Kumar, an assistant professor of design at Shiv Nadar University, and his former student Sarthak Mittal were honoured for their paper that analyzed "from an engineering design perspective, how foul smelling shoes affect the good experience of using a shoe rack." The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate research that first makes people laugh and then makes them think, and this study perfectly fits the bill.
The inspiration for the research was born in the close quarters of a college campus hostel outside Delhi. Mittal noticed that shoes were routinely piled up outside twin sharing rooms. The initial assumption was that students lacked adequate space or proper shoe storage inside, prompting a basic design project for a sleek, aesthetic shoe rack. However, upon deeper investigation and surveying 149 university students, the duo discovered the real culprit was not clutter but the pervasive and embarrassing bad odour. Over half of the students surveyed admitted to feeling embarrassed by the smell of their own or someone else's footwear, confirming that the odour significantly ruined the entire experience of using a standard shoe rack.
The researchers understood the source of the stink was not the shoe itself but the bacteria, primarily Kytococcus sedentarius, which thrives in the warm, sweaty environment of frequently worn footwear. Their insight was to treat the issue not just as a design flaw but as an engineering and microbiological problem. Drawing inspiration from germicidal processes used in water purifiers, Kumar and Mittal designed and prototyped a shoe rack fitted with a UVC light source. Ultraviolet C light, known for its germicidal properties, was strategically focused near the toe area of the stored shoes, where bacterial build up is most concentrated.
Their meticulous experimentation with footwear, including odour prone shoes worn by university athletes, found that just two to three minutes of UVC treatment was sufficient to effectively kill the odour causing microbes, banishing the foul smell. The result was an innovative and practical solution: a shoe rack that doesn't just store shoes but actively sanitises them, significantly enhancing the user experience. The simple message from this prize winning study is a profound one: everyday annoyances can be fertile ground for genuine, creative, and multidisciplinary innovation.
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