Morgan Lowther
Final year PhD student Morgan Lowther

A PhD student from the University of Birmingham has won this year’s prestigious Institute of Minerals, Mining and Materials (IOM3) Young Persons’ Lecture Competition (YPLC) and will now go on to represent the UK on the world stage.

Morgan Lowther, a PhD student who specialises in advanced healthcare technologies, won the competition for his lecture on ‘Head, shoulders, knees and microbes: 3D printing better implants.’This year’s competition took place virtually on 23 September for the first time. Seven early career materials scientists took part in the competition from across the United Kingdom.

Screenshot of Morgan Lowther delivering lecture online

Reflecting on his achievement, Morgan said: “I’m incredibly happy, particularly being up against so many excellent talks on a huge range of topics. It’s really nice to engage people with the research I do, and to try and tell a compelling story around how implant materials have changed in the past 7,000 years and how we’re working to change them now!”

Now a final year PhD student at the University of Birmingham, UK, Morgan's research uses 3D printing to deliver antimicrobials from biomedical implants, hoping to tackle the increasing challenge of implant-associated infections. He is a member of the University of Birmingham's Healthcare Technologies Institute (HTI) and the Centre for Custom Medical Devices (CMD).

Mr Lowther will now represent the UK at the Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition (YPWLC). The competition will once again be held virtually on 12th November.

The YPCL is organised by IOM3, sponsored by the Midland Institute of Mining Engineers, the East Midlands Materials Society and supported by the Armourers and Brasiers’ Company. It aims to provide a friendly atmosphere of competition in which young engineers and scientists can develop their presentation skills by addressing an informed audience.