Wearing socks over shoes is popular among Dunedin residents to stop slipping on ice and researchers who provided the safety tip with a scientific backing received an Ig Nobel prize at Harvard University on Thursday.
The award is handed out by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine for quirky scientific discoveries which often have surprisingly practical applications.
Researchers Dr Lianne Parkin, Dr Patricia Priest and Associate Prof Sheila Williams conducted the shoes-over-socks research last year and it was published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
Dr Parkin said the "light-hearted" research was carried out independently by the group, who got the idea over morning tea.
Study participants were gathered on a winter morning. Half of them put socks over their shoes and walked down Dunedin's Queen St, and half did not.
Those with the socks over their shoes found it less slippery.
While at the awards, scientists from the Netherlands told her the same method was used in their flat nation.
The research gained international attention with Dr Parkin being interviewed by Russian, US and Ukrainian media.
"People just seem to really enjoy it," she said.
Winning the award was "fun" and showed science could be humorous and scientists could laugh at themselves.
It was the 20th anniversary of the awards, which are handed out by real Nobel Prize laureates.
