Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has been selected as the host of this year Materials Lecture Competition 2021 (MLC 2021). The MLC 2021 Semi-final and final round were organised by USM together with the Institute of Materials, Malaysia (IMM) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3-UK) on the 14th July 2021 and 28th July 2021 respectively via online. Both events were conducted using webex platform and aired via live streaming in Facebook page of School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering. The events were originally scheduled on 2nd June 2021 and 16th June 2021 for both semi-final and final rounds. However, the whole of Malaysia placed under the Movement Control Order 3.0 (MCO 3.0) from 12th May 2021 to 7th June 2021, as the country grapples with rising Covid-19 infections. Under this movement restriction that previously last for more than four weeks, all educational institutions were closed. Therefore, the committee members have decided to postpone the events to mid-July.
The aim of the event was to provide a platform for young talents to exhibit effective and impressive presentation skills in delivering topics in the field of material science and engineering. The MLC 2021 semi-final event was officiated by Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Syed Fuad Saiyid Hashim, the Dean of School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, USM. The panel of judges for both semi-final dan final were selected among the academia and industry practitioners (Table 1).