YPWLC 2024 winner announced

The Young Persons' World Lecture Competition was held online on 28 November.

Earlier this year, the Young Persons' Lecture Competition finals were held in several countries and regions of the world where students and early career professionals competed to enter the world finals.

On 28 November, the Young Persons' World Lecture Competition final was held online with the following finalists:

Emilia Russell, UK: Why strained semiconductors are like crinkle-cut crisps
Sihao Yu, Hong Kong: A deep learning-based framework for automatic rock core logging
Oliver Marian Preuß, FEMS: Dislocation-based toughening and damage-tolerance in oxide ceramics
Sebasa Theresa Ramahlare, South Africa: Biodegradable Mulch Biofilms Potential Environmentally Friendly Alternative for Agricultural Mulching
Jerome Liew, Malaysia: MXene: Pursuing Fast-Charging Battery

Each finalist gave a lecture of 15 minutes, which was then judged by our panel.

The judging panel included IOM3 President Dr Kate Thornton CEng CSci FIMMM, Chair of the Student & Early Career Group Dr Ilija Rašović MIMMM, and IOM3 Members' Board Chair Mr Martyn Jones CEng FIMMM.

We are delighted to share that the first prize went to Sebasa Theresa Ramahlare from South Africa for her lecture on 'Biodegradable Mulch Biofilms Potential Environmentally Friendly Alternative for Agricultural Mulching'.

Sebasa is from Mohodi ga Manthata, a village in the Limpopo province, South Africa. She has a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Witwatersrand and is currently working at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in the Pretoria Gauteng province. She is on a 3-year graduate-in-training programme in the Advanced Polymer and Composites (APC) group in the Chemicals cluster, working on her research.

Oliver Preuß from FEMS - Federation of European Materials Societies and Jerome Liew from Malaysia won second and third prize respectively - congratulations!

We'd like to thank our finalists, judges, and event co-ordinator Dr Ilija Rašović MIMMM for their support and participation.

The finalists' presentations were filmed ahead of the event and can be viewed on the YWPLC page on our website.

Find out more about the YPWLC finalists