diff --git a/neurobench/benchmarks/benchmark.py b/neurobench/benchmarks/benchmark.py
index 1fc66db2..4a79fcdb 100644
--- a/neurobench/benchmarks/benchmark.py
+++ b/neurobench/benchmarks/benchmark.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 import snntorch
 from torch import Tensor
 import torch
-import nir
 
 
 class Benchmark:
@@ -228,6 +227,12 @@ def to_nir(self, dummy_input: Tensor, filename: str, **kwargs) -> None:
                 If the installed version of `snntorch` is less than `0.9.0`.
 
         """
+        try:
+            import nir
+        except ImportError:
+            raise ImportError(
+                "Exporting to NIR requires the `nir` package. Install it using `pip install nir`."
+            )
         if snntorch.__version__ < "0.9.0":
             raise ValueError("Exporting to NIR requires snntorch version >= 0.9.0")