The IOM3 Young Persons’ Lecture Competition in 2023 was Held Successfully

On May 25, 2023, the IOM3 Young Persons’ Lecture Competition(YPLC) Chinese National Final was successfully held at QMES. Yu Chuan, a student from the 2019 cohort of QMES won the first prize, Zhang Yixuan, a student from the 2019 cohort won the second prize, and Guo Qingyuan, a student from the 2019 cohort won the third prize.

Yu Chuan appeared as the first contestant. He mainly focused on energy-absorbing structures, combining FDM 3D printing processing methods and supercritical CO2 physical foaming technology to design and construct energy-absorbing structures based on TPU-PVDF blended polymer systems. He tried two types of designs, including gradient structure and multistage pore structure, which improved the energy absorption strength and response range of the synthesized structure. His fluent expression and steady performance won applause from the judges and the audience. He finally won the first prize in this competition.

Zhang Yixuan demonstrated his research on the preparation and sodium storage properties of thermally stable metal phase MoSe2. He explored to take ethylene glycol as a solvent to synthesize metallic molybdenum selenide by molecular intercalation method as the anode material for sodium-ion batteries. He won the second prize with his excellent performance in the competition.

Chen Haoyan, a doctoral student from South China University of Technology, presented his research—one-dimensional barium titanate nanoarrays for the treatment of tumorous bone defects. The diversification of participants also confirms the increasing influence of the competition in academia at home and abroad.

Students Jiang Yuxuan, Li Jiakai from the Class of 2019 of QMES and student Liu Jiaming from the Class of 2020 respectively challenged the first prize with their research projects of “Multi-scale Optimization of Composite Materials” and “Research on the Phase Transition Mechanism of Gradient 304 Stainless Steel under Stress Induction” etc. They fully demonstrated their scientific thinking ability and language expression level. Their wonderful performance presented a vivid audio-visual feast for the audiences, which made them win the applause of the judges and the audiences.

Guo Qingyuan, a student of the Class of 2019 of QMES withstood the pressure of the finale appearance. He confidently presented his project “A Mitochondrial Targeted H2O2 Fluorescent Probe to Evaluate Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury”. His passionate speech injected vitality into the scene won the unanimous praise of the judges and teachers. He finally won the third prize in the competition.

The judges of this competition, Andrew Spowage, Han Zhang, Li Wang, and Faith Nightingale, fully affirmed the research content and presentation performance of the contestants. In the on-site Q&A session, in the face of the judges’ professional questions, the contestants were confident and calm. Their clear logic, fluent expressions and quick response fully demonstrated their solid professional skills and excellent cross-cultural communication skills.

The IOM3 Young Persons’ Lecture Competition(YPLC) is an academic speech competition organized annually worldwide by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). Since it was first held in 2005, the event has attracted attention from the international academic communities. It also has high value and great influence in the international professional field. This year is the third time that QMES has organized the Chinese national final of the IOM3 Young Persons’ Lecture Competition(YPLC), which not only strengthens communication and cooperation between IOM3 and QMES, but also provides a platform for students to show themselves, which is helpful to improve students’ English language ability, academic research ability and critical thinking ability, and cultivates more compound innovative talents with international vision, strong professional competitiveness and high comprehensive quality.

Text: Meng Jiarong, Qi Yue

Picture: Sun Chengyu, Meng Jiarong, Qi Yue

Review: Cheng Yin

Translator: Li Qianqian