diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pygmo/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pygmo/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2500121dc9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pygmo/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+{ lib
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, buildPythonPackage
+, cmake
+, eigen
+, nlopt
+, ipopt
+, boost
+, pagmo2
+, numpy
+, cloudpickle
+, ipyparallel
+, numba
+}:
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  pname = "pygmo";
+  version = "2.8";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+     owner = "esa";
+     repo = "pagmo2";
+     rev = "v${version}";
+     sha256 = "1xwxamcn3fkwr62jn6bkanrwy0cvsksf75hfwx4fvl56awnbz41z";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [ cmake eigen nlopt ipopt boost pagmo2 ];
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ numpy cloudpickle ipyparallel numba ];
+
+  preBuild = ''
+    cp -v -r $src/* .
+    cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$out -DPAGMO_BUILD_TESTS=no -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Linux -DPagmo_DIR=${pagmo2} -DPAGMO_BUILD_PYGMO=yes -DPAGMO_BUILD_PAGMO=no -DPAGMO_WITH_EIGEN3=yes -DPAGMO_WITH_NLOPT=yes -DNLOPT_LIBRARY=${nlopt}/lib/libnlopt_cxx.so -DPAGMO_WITH_IPOPT=yes -DIPOPT=${ipopt}
+
+    make install
+    mv $out/lib/python*/site-packages/pygmo wheel
+    cd wheel
+  '';
+
+  # dont do tests
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "Parallel optimisation for Python";
+    homepage = https://esa.github.io/pagmo2/;
+    license = lib.licenses.gpl3Plus;
+    maintainers = with lib.maintainers; [ costrouc ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index d48741ce8a4..8399005534f 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -408,6 +408,8 @@ in {
 
   pygame_sdl2 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/pygame_sdl2 { };
 
+  pygmo = callPackage ../development/python-modules/pygmo { };
+
   pygobject2 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/pygobject { };
 
   pygobject3 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/pygobject/3.nix { };